Interlarden

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To scatter something through a text or speech by mixing in other material at intervals
2. Historically, to thread one substance throughout another, as strips of fat are inserted into lean meat
3. To fill a piece of writing or conversation with occasional insertions of differing material

Etymology: Cooks once interlarded meat by threading strips of fat through lean cuts before roasting, so the fat would baste the meat from within. The verb comes from Old French "entrelarder," formed from "entre-" ("between") and "larder" ("to lard"), which itself derives from "lard," the animal fat. The English form appeared in Middle English, and the kitchen sense was the original one. The figurative sense followed naturally. Just as fat was threaded through lean meat, a speaker or writer could weave other material into a text, such as quotations, foreign phrases, or borrowed passages. A speech "interlarded with" Latin tags is one where those tags are scattered through the ordinary talk. The verb has stayed in this sense ever since, and it still describes mixing one thing into another, though the cooking background has largely faded from view.

Synonyms: interlard, intersperse, pepper, stud, sprinkle