▪ I. incise, v.
(ɪnˈsaɪz)
Also 6 incyse, 7 incize.
[a. F. incise-r (15th c. in Godef.), for OF. enciser (12th c. in Littré), f. L. incīs-, ppl. stem of incīdĕre to cut into: see incide v.1]
1. a. trans. To cut into, make a cut or incision in; to cut marks or figures upon, engrave with figures.
| 1567 [see incising below]. 1610 Markham Masterp. i. v. 14 Flesh being cut or incised into many parts, yet is euery part still flesh. a 1639 Carew Poems Wks. (1824) 32 Fond man, that canst beleeve..that thy weake steele can incize The crystall case wherin it lyes. 1834 J. Forbes Laennec's Dis. Chest (ed. 4) 615 The other parts of the lungs were..imbued with a yellowish frothy serum, which escaped from them when incised. 1873 J. Geikie Gt. Ice Age xxiv. 316 Glacial deposits were swept out of the valleys, and the solid rocks themselves deeply incised. 1876 Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. viii. lx, The wood was beautifully incised with Arabic lettering. |
b. absol. To make a cut or incision.
| 1541 R. Copland Guydon's Quest. Chirurg., etc., By incysynge, cuttynge, or scaturysyng. 1612 Woodall Surg. Mate Wks. (1653) 1 It behoveth the Surgeon to regard if he incise deep. 1617 Fletcher Mad Lover iii. ii, Ye can incise To a hair's breadth without defacing. |
c. trans. Geol. Of a river: to cut (a channel or valley) in an underlying landform. Also absol. Usu. as incised pa. pple. (cf. incised ppl. a. 3).
| 1893 Science 17 Nov. 278/1 The process by which the present ravines are forming is not a direct continuation of the process by which the gentler slopes of the upland were formed. The former are incised in the latter. 1896 Nat. Geogr. Mag. VII. 190 With the uplift of the region the meandering river would proceed to incise its channel beneath the uplifted surface. 1926 Jrnl. Geol. XXXIV. 31 Green River has a highly meandering course which is deeply incised in the rocks of the plateau. 1954 W. D. Thornbury Princ. Geomorphol. vi. 147 Heavily loaded streams are more likely to cut laterally as they incise their valleys than those with lesser loads. 1972 Science 27 Oct. 409/2 Meandering rivers that have incised in bedrock and yet have maintained a sinuous pattern may be of two basic types. |
2. To produce, form, or trace by cutting; to carve, engrave (a statue, figure, inscription, etc.).
| c 1631 Carew Elegy Donne in D.'s Poems (1633) 388, I on thy Tombe this Epitaph incise. 1656 Stanley Hist. Philos. v. (1701) 178/2 'Twas Mars's Steel that Venus did incize. 1851 D. Wilson Preh. Ann. (1863) II. iv. ii. 246 Stones decorated with crosses, incised or in relief. 1876 Birch Rede Lect. Egypt 35 A nation..incising virtues and not vices for public consideration. |
Hence inˈcising vbl. n. = incision.
| 1567 Ann. Barber-Surg. (1890) 315 The desections or incysynges of the body. |
▪ II. † incise, a. rare—0.
(ɪnˈsaɪs)
[ad. L. incīsus, pa. pple. of incīdĕre (see prec.). Cf. concise.]
= incised. Hence inˈcisely adv.
| 1828 Webster, Incisely, in the manner of incisions or notches. Eaton. |