tess

‖n. pl. [ NL. See Tessellate. ] (Zool.) A division of Crinoidea including numerous fossil species in which the body is covered with tessellated plates. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. tesselatus. ] Tessellated. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Tessellated p. pr. & vb. n. Tessellating. ] [ L. tessellatus tessellated. See Tessellar. ] To form into squares or checkers; to lay with checkered work. [ 1913 Webster ]

The floors are sometimes of wood, tessellated after the fashion of France. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Formed of little squares, as mosaic work; checkered; as, a tessellated pavement. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Bot. & Zool.) Marked like a checkerboard; as, a tessellated leaf. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act of tessellating; also, the mosaic work so formed. J. Forsyth. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n.; pl. Tesserae [ L., a square piece, a die. See Tessellar. ] A small piece of marble, glass, earthenware, or the like, having a square, or nearly square, face, used by the ancients for mosaic, as for making pavements, for ornamenting walls, and like purposes; also, a similar piece of ivory, bone, wood, etc., used as a ticket of admission to theaters, or as a certificate for successful gladiators, and as a token for various other purposes. Fairholt. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Diversified by squares; done in mosaic; tessellated. [ Obs. ] Sir R. Atkyns (1712). [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Of, pertaining to, or containing, tesserae. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Crystallog.) Isometric. [ 1913 Webster ]