matryoshka doll
Stacking Russian toys
A matryoshka doll is a Russian nesting doll—a set of wooden figures that stack inside one another, each smaller than the last.
The outermost doll opens to reveal a slightly smaller one inside, which contains another, and so on.
Figuratively, anything with nested layers resembles a matryoshka: The scandal was a matryoshka doll of corruption, each revelation exposing another beneath it.
Token from a trip
- figurineSmall ornamental sculpture
- setArrange in position
- displayPresentation for viewing
- hand-paintedDecorated by brush personally
gift · heirloom · antique · vintage · limited edition · miniature · wooden · decorative
Capacity for reproduction
- motherhoodState of being a female parent
- familyRelated people together
- generationsPeople born around same time
- hidden depthsUnexpected interior complexity
inner self · layers · wholeness · unity · multiplicity · progression · maturation · concealment
Sharing one center
- enclosedSurrounded and sealed within
- layeredHaving multiple levels
- sequentialOccurring in succession
- stackableCan be piled up
embedded · hierarchical · recursive · interlocking · compartmentalized · diminishing · innermost · outermost
souvenir
Token from a trip
hand-painted · gift · heirloom · antique · vintage · limited edition · miniature · wooden · decorative · shelf
fertility
Capacity for reproduction
- motherhoodState of being a female parent
- familyRelated people together
- generationsPeople born around same time
hidden depths · inner self · layers · wholeness · unity · multiplicity · progression · maturation · concealment · revelation
concentric
Sharing one center
- enclosedSurrounded and sealed within
- layeredHaving multiple levels
- sequentialOccurring in succession
stackable · embedded · hierarchical · recursive · interlocking · compartmentalized · diminishing · innermost · outermost · reveal
woodturning
Shaping rotating timber
- latheRotating shaping machine
- carvingShaping by cutting away
- hand-paintedDecorated by brush personally
lacquer · varnishing · polishing · gouache · tempera · gilding · drying · sanding · sealing · artisan
Moscow
Russia's capital city
- SlavicOf certain Eastern Europeans
- babushkaTriangular cloth head covering
- birchPale deciduous hardwood
linden · samovars · troika · Cyrillic · steppe · dacha · Soviet · perestroika · glasnost · czarist
- European souvenirssnow globe, postcard, magnet, keychain, flag pin
- European craftsCeltic knotwork, tartan, Wedgwood, majolica
- Communist Symbolshammer and sickle, red star, Soviet flag, red banner, CCCP
matryoshka dollsolid block
Continuous three-dimensional mass
monolith · billiard ball · marble · brick · stone