interdigitate

present singular third person interdigitates · participle present interdigitating · participle past interdigitated · past interdigitated

1. transitiveTo fold or lock together, as when the fingers of one hand are laced between those of the other.
2. intransitiveTo become folded or locked together, like the fingers of a folded hand.

   Figure 1.4 shows a modern thyristor encapsulated in a presspack housing and Figure 1.5 illustrates a typical interdigitated gate geometry in a high-power thyristor; the black areas indicate silicon ( Si0₂ ) and the white areas the Al metallisation.

   1998, J. Arrillaga, High Voltage Direct Current Transmission, page 6

3. figurativelytransitiveTo intermingle; to present alternately items from one group and then another.

   Thirdly, I continue to attempt to interdigitate the taxa in our flora with taxa of the remainder of the world.

   1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page viii