interlard

English

Etymology

From the literal sense of “to intersperse with alternate layers of lard (and/or other fats)”, existing since Middle English, from Middle French entrelarder, from entre- (“inter”) + larder (“to lard”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌɪntəˈlɑːd/

• Audio (Southern England):

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Verb

interlard (third-person singular simple present interlards, present participle interlarding, simple past and past participle interlarded)

1. Bloat or embellish (something) by including (often minor and extraneous) details at regular intervals.
   • 1849, George Frederick Ruxton, chapter III, in Life in the Far West (Plains and Rockies; 175), Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, page 71:

     [A] stalwart leather-clad "boy," just returned from trapping on the waters of Grand River, on the western side the mountains, who interlards his mountain jargon with Spanish words picked up in Taos and California.

   • 1887, Theodor Eimer, Specialization in Science:

     The German student appears only too often to think that he must present his subject in the most difficult phraseology, excessively interlarded with strange words, as if he purposely would permit a glance into the treasures of his science and his knowledge only to an extremely narrow circle.

   • 1960 August, “New Reading on Railways”, in Trains Illustrated, page 511:

     THE RAILWAYS OF BOLTON, 1824-1959. By J. R. Bardsley. Published by the author at Chorley New Road, Bolton. 2s. 9d. post free. [...] The author has provided considerable information interlarded with some interesting quotations from contemporary accounts, but his booklet would have been much improved if the material had been arranged with more care.

Synonyms

• interweave