‖ tessera
(ˈtɛsərə)
Pl. tesseræ.
[L., f. Ionic Gr. τέσσερες, -ρα, = Attic τέσσαρες, -ρα four.]
1. Anc. Hist. A small quadrilateral tablet of wood, bone, ivory, or the like, used for various purposes, as a token, tally, ticket, label, etc.
tessera of hospitality (= L. tessera hospitalis), a die broken between host and guest, and kept as a means of recognition.
| 1656 Blount Glossogr., Tessera, a thing in every part square as a dye; also a watchword, or signal, a note, mark or token, &c. 1846 Keightley Notes Virg., Georg. ii. 508 In the ancient theatres..each spectator's tessera designated the cuneus and row in which he was to sit. 1850 J. Leitch tr. C. O. Müller's Anc. Art §412 (ed. 2) 569 One brings him a tessera of hospitality from Sisyphus. 1886 Guide Exhib. Galleries Brit. Mus. 186 Objects in bone and ivory, such as caskets, gladiatorial tesseræ, tickets for the theatre, dice. |
b. fig. A distinguishing sign or token; a watchword, a password. (The earliest use in English.)
| 1647 Jer. Taylor Lib. Proph. i. 17 That Creed made so explicite as a tessera of a Christian. 1656 [see prec.]. 1662 Owen Animadv. Fiat Lux ii. Wks. 1855 XIV. 29 Making subjection to the pope in all things the tessera and rule of all church communion. 1795 in Calderwood Dying Testimonies (1806) 460 Exacts it from them as a tessera of their loyalty. 1890 Hatch Hibbert Lect. xii. 344 It was, so to speak, a tessera or password. |
2. spec. Each of the small square (usually cubical) pieces of marble, glass, tile, etc., of which a mosaic pavement or the like is composed. Usually in pl.
| 1797 S. Lysons Rom. Antiq. Woodchester 4 The tesseræ of which this [mosaic] pavement is composed, are, for the most part, nearly cubes of half an inch... Many are triangular, and of various other shapes. 1843 Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. VI. 125/1 The next point to be observed with reference to the Roman tesseræ, is the want of uniformity in their size and shape. 1894 Times 5 Mar. 14/1 The workmen had to learn to set the tesseræ, one by one and each in its proper place, into the cement on the wall. |
b. transf. Any one of the quadrilateral divisions into which a surface is divided by intersecting lines; e.g. by the lines of latitude and longitude.
| 1873 Maxwell Electr. & Magn. (1881) I. 198 So that the spherical surface is divided into quadrilaterals or tesseræ..bounded by meridian circles and parallels of latitude. |
c. Zool. Each of the plates of which the carapace of an armadillo is composed.
| 1909 in Cent. Dict., Suppl. |
† 3. (See quots.) Obs.
| 1815 J. Smith Panorama Sc. & Art I. 257 John's tessera is perhaps the best of those artificial compositions which are designed for roofing. 1842–76 Gwilt Archit. Gloss., Tessera..this name was..applied to a composition used some years ago for covering flat roofs, but now..quite abandoned. |