intercalary

English edit

WOTD – 26 March 2008

From Latin intercalārius, from intercalāris, from intercalō, from inter (“among”) + calō (“call out, proclaim”).

intercalary (not comparable)

Describing a time period inserted between others; leap, (as in leap day, leap month, or leap year)
(sciences, by extension) Inserted between other things
- 1982 December, I. F. Zhimulev et al., “Intercalary heterochromatin in Drosophila”, in Chromosoma, volume 87, →DOI, pages 197–228:
  Breaks caused by chromosome aberrations in regions with repeats may not result in a sharp decline of viability, so that break points of chromosome rearrangements in intercalary heterochromatin may be more frequent than in other regions.
- 2007 February 28, Kitokazu Agata et al., “Unifying principles of regeneration I: Epimorphosis versus morphallaxis”, in Development, Growth, and Differentiation, →DOI:
  In this new model, the anterior and posterior blastemas were formed as signaling centers to direct intercalary reorganization of body regionality or positional information.
1. (botany) of a meristem: situated between zones of permanent tissue, thus a shoot growing at the base of a leaf, in comparison with apical growth at the tip of a root or plant.
2. (entomology) of a wing vein: between the major veins common to insect wings.
  - 1953, Willis W. Wirth, “American Biting Midges of the Helid Genus Monohelea”, in Proceedings of the United States National Museum, volume 103, number 3320, pages 135–154:
    ...two radial cells, second longer than first; intercalary fork fairly distinct; crossvein r-m vertical...

of a time period, inserted between others

intercalary (plural intercalaries)