incise

/ɪnˈsaɪz/

Other forms: incised; incising

To incise is to carve or cut into something. You might incise your initials into the old oak tree in your backyard.

When you incise something, you carve it, often as a way of decorating it. Your grandfather might incise his beloved walking stick with the shapes of birds and trees, for example. It's more common to see this word in its adjective form, incised, but you can use it to mean "cut into a surface," or even "make a surgical cut." The Latin root is incidere, "to cut into or cut through."

Definitions of incise

1. verb

   make an incision into by carving or cutting
   types:

   notch

   cut or make a notch into

   scrape, scratch, scratch up

   cut the surface of; wear away the surface of

   groove

   make a groove in, or provide with a groove

   slit

   cut a slit into

   worry

   lacerate by biting

   deaden, girdle

   cut a girdle around so as to kill by interrupting the circulation of water and nutrients

   mark, nock, score

   make small marks into the surface of

   indent

   notch the edge of or make jagged

   claw

   scratch, scrape, pull, or dig with claws or nails

   scuff

   mar by scuffing

   dado

   cut a dado into or fit into a dado

   mill

   produce a ridge around the edge of

   type of:

   cut

   separate with or as if with an instrument