lyrate, a. Nat. Hist.
(ˈlaɪəreɪt)
[ad. mod.L. lyrāt-us, f. lyra lyre: see -ate2.]
Shaped like a lyre. In Bot., of a leaf: Pinnatifid, with the upper lobes much larger than the lower.
| 1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. iii. v. (1765) 179 Lyrate, Lyre-shaped. 1785 Martyn Rousseau's Bot. xxiii. (1794) 323 Winter Cress with lyrate leaves, the outmost lobe roundish. 1852 Dana Crust. i. 86 Carapax lyrate. 1856–8 W. Clark Van der Hoeven's Zool. II. 652 Gazella..Horns lyrate. 1870 Hooker Stud. Flora 30 Upper leaves toothed or lyrate. 1880 Huxley Crayfish v. 234 A characteristic lyrate mark upon the cephalic region of the carapace. 1893 F. C. Selous Trav. S. E. Africa 450 The elegant lyrate horns of the males. |
b. Used in comb. with sense ‘lyrate and ―’, in lyrate-pinnate, lyrate-pinnatifid adjs. Also in quasi-L. form lyrato- (laɪəˈreɪtəʊ).
| 1775 Jenkinson Brit. Plants Gloss., Lyrato-hastated, is shaped partly like a harp or lyre, and partly like a spear. 1806 J. Galpine Brit. Bot. 96 Stipulæ lyrato-pinnatifid. 1845 Lindley Sch. Bot. v. (1858) 60 Radical leaves lyrate-pinnate. 1847 W. E. Steele Field Bot. 105 Leaves glabrous, or hairy, the radical ones lyrate-pinnatifid. |