mo|sa|ic

mo|sa|ic «moh ZAY ihk», noun, adjective, verb, -icked, -ick|ing.

–n.

1. decoration made of small pieces of stone, glass, or wood of different colors, inlaid to form a picture or design: »

Most of the mosaic with its dozens of pictures had chipped out of the floor of the ancient temple.

2. such a picture or design. Mosaics are used in the floors, walls, or ceilings of buildings, for tabletops, etc.

3. the art or process of making such a picture or design.

4. Figurative. anything like a mosaic: »

His music is a mosaic of folk melodies.

5. a group of aerial photographs put together to form a continuous photograph of an area.

6. mosaic disease.

–adj.

formed by, having to do with, or resembling a mosaic.

–v.t.

1. to combine, as in mosaic.

2. to form like mosaic.

3. to decorate with or as if with mosaics: »

... brilliantly mosaicked piles of folded Persian rugs (Atlantic).

╂[< Medieval Latin mosaicus, variant of musaicus having to do with music, the Muses; artistic]

–mo|sa´i|cal|ly, adverb.

Mo|sa|ic «moh ZAY ihk», adjective.

of or having to do with Moses or the Mosaic law.

╂[< New Latin Mosaicus < Latin Mōsēs < Greek Mōsês < Hebrew moshe]