Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A natural outer covering or coat, such as the skin of an animal or the membrane enclosing an organ.
  • noun Botany The outermost layer or layers of an ovule.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In general, a covering; that which covers or clothes.
  • noun Specifically That which naturally covers or invests any animal or vegetable body, as a skin, shell, case, crust, or rind; especially, a continuous investment or covering, as the cutaneous envelop or skin of an animal body, with or without its special appendages.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun That which naturally invests or covers another thing, as the testa or the tegmen of a seed; specifically (Anat.), a covering which invests the body, as the skin, or a membrane that invests a particular part.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun biology An outer protective covering such as the feathers or skin of an animal, a rind or shell.
  • noun botany The outer layer of an ovule, which develops into the seed coat.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an outer protective covering such as the skin of an animal or a cuticle or seed coat or rind or shell

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin integumentum, from integere, to cover : in-, on; see in– + tegere, to cover; see (s)teg- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin integumentum ("a covering").

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Examples

  • Considered in these points of view, Mosaism has the appearance, in its exterior garb, of a special law, adapted to peculiar circumstances, and circumscribed to few persons, but in reality, and apart from that kind of integument, it contains the universal doctrines, destined to become the inheritance of all mankind.

    A Guide for the Religious Instruction of Jewish Youth Isaac Samuele Reggio

  • Jambers was not quite sure what "integument" was, but she thanked God she had never had it in her family.

    We Can't Have Everything Rupert Hughes 1914

  • Within the integument of one system of exploitation, in other words, was contained a systemic conflict that, if not resolved, would lead to stagnation and decline but, if properly confronted, might lead to a higher synthesis of abundance and equality.

    The Revenge of Karl Marx 2009

  • Within the integument of one system of exploitation, in other words, was contained a systemic conflict that, if not resolved, would lead to stagnation and decline but, if properly confronted, might lead to a higher synthesis of abundance and equality.

    The Revenge of Karl Marx 2009

  • The bison know a lot about Longfellow and wisteria and patrimony, the piscine nuance of the clouds, God's topological integument.

    The Bison's Alimony 2010

  • Your tissues, on the other hand, eject water rapidly through the pores, at least as deep as a few millimeters, and the outer skin collapses down to a tough, leathery integument.

    Masked Lou Anders 2010

  • Your tissues, on the other hand, eject water rapidly through the pores, at least as deep as a few millimeters, and the outer skin collapses down to a tough, leathery integument.

    Masked Lou Anders 2010

  • As the green flames lifted I could see the oily gleam of his integument and the brightness of his eyes.

    The War of The Worlds H. G. Wells 2009

  • But then I perceived the resemblance of its grey-brown, shiny, leathery integument to that of the other sprawling bodies beyond, and the true nature of this dexterous workman dawned upon me.

    The War of The Worlds H. G. Wells 2009

  • Accuracy can be accomplished in the skeleton and musculature, but after that, unless amazing circumstances exist like integument or soft tissue preservation, it's all aesthetic, but even then, I'm very conservative in my approach to most dinosaurs.

    Life's Time Capsule: Thoughts on Palaeoart II Peter Bond 2009

Comments

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  • Usage 1: "I always use SPF lotion when sunning at the beach. It's important to avoid integumentburn."

    Usage 2: "Horror movies? They make my integument crawl."

    August 14, 2009

  • "The empty integuments of grand buildings began to fill. Rural poor from Grain Spiral and the Mendican Foothills began to creep into the deserted borough." From Perdido Street Station by China Mieville.

    December 5, 2011