Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Alternate
1.
Being or succeeding by turns; one following the other in succession of time or place; by turns first one and then the other; hence, reciprocal.
And bid
alternate
passions fall and rise. Pope.
2.
Designating the members in a series, which regularly intervene between the members of another series, as the odd or even numbers of the numerals; every other; every second;
as, the
; read every alternate line. alternate
members 1, 3, 5, 7, etc. 3.
(Bot.)
Distributed, as leaves, singly at different heights of the stem, and at equal intervals as respects angular divergence.
Gray.
Alternate alligation
. See
– Alligation
. Alternate angles
(Geom.)
, the internal and angles made by two lines with a third, on opposite sides of it. It the parallels AB, CD, are cut by the line EF, the angles AGH, GHD, as also the angles BGH and GHC, are called alternate angles.
– Alternate generation
. (Biol.)
See under
Generation
.Al-ter′nate
(?; 277)
, Noun.
1.
That which alternates with something else; vicissitude.
[R.]
Grateful
alternates
of substantial. Prior.
2.
A substitute; one designated to take the place of another, if necessary, in performing some duty.
3.
(Math.)
A proportion derived from another proportion by interchanging the means.
Al′ter-nate
(?; 277)
, Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Alternated
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Alternating
.] To perform by turns, or in succession; to cause to succeed by turns; to interchange regularly.
The most high God, in all things appertaining unto this life, for sundry wise ends
alternates
the disposition of good and evil. Grew.
Al′ter-nate
,Verb.
I.
1.
To happen, succeed, or act by turns; to follow reciprocally in place or time; – followed by with;
as, the flood and ebb tides
. alternate
with each otherRage, shame, and grief
alternate
in his breast. J. Philips.
Different species
alternating
with each other. Kirwan.
2.
To vary by turns;
as, the land
. alternates
between rocky hills and sandy plainsWebster 1828 Edition
Alternate
ALTERN'ATE
,Adj.
1.
Being by turns; one following the other in succession of time or place; hence reciprocal.And bid alternate passions fall and rise.
2.
In botany branches and leaves are alternate, when they rise higher on opposite sides alternately, come out singly, and follow in gradual order.Alternate alligation. [See Alligation.]
Alternate angles, in geometry, the internal angles made by a line cutting two parallels, and lying on opposite sides of the cutting line; the one below the first parallel, and the other above the second.
In heraldry, the first and fourth quarters, and the second and third, are usually of the same nature, and are called alternate quarters.
ALTERN'ATE
,Noun.
Definition 2024
alternate
alternate
English
Adjective
alternate (not comparable)
- Being or succeeding by turns; one following the other in succession of time or place; by turns first one and then the other; hence, reciprocal.
- And bid alternate passions fall and rise. -Alexander Pope
- (mathematics) Designating the members in a series, which regularly intervene between the members of another series, as the odd or even numbers of the numerals; every other; every second.
- the alternate members 1, 3, 5, 7, etc.
- (US) Other; alternative.
- Hyperlinked text is displayed in alternate color in a Web browser.
- (botany) Distributed, as leaves, singly at different heights of the stem, and at equal intervals as respects angular divergence.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Gray to this entry?)
Translations
being or succeeding by turns
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mathematics: designating the members in a series
other; alternative
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botany: distributed, as leaves
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Noun
alternate (plural alternates)
- That which alternates with something else; vicissitude.
- Matthew Prior
- Grateful alternates of substantial.
- Matthew Prior
- (US) A substitute; an alternative; one designated to take the place of another, if necessary, in performing some duty.
- (mathematics) A proportion derived from another proportion by interchanging the means.
- (US) A replacement of equal or greater value or function.
- (heraldry) Figures or tinctures that succeed each other by turns.
Translations
that which alternates
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substitute
proportion derived from another
figures or tinctures
Verb
alternate (third-person singular simple present alternates, present participle alternating, simple past and past participle alternated)
- (transitive) To perform by turns, or in succession; to cause to succeed by turns; to interchange regularly.
- 1701, Nehemiah Grew, Cosmologia Sacra,
- The most high God, in all things appertaining unto this life, for sundry wise ends alternates the disposition of good and evil.
- 1701, Nehemiah Grew, Cosmologia Sacra,
- (intransitive) To happen, succeed, or act by turns; to follow reciprocally in place or time; followed by with.
- The flood and ebb tides alternate with each other.
- (intransitive) To vary by turns.
- The land alternates between rocky hills and sandy plains.
- (transitive, geometry) To perform an alternation (removal of alternate vertices) on (a polytope or tessellation); to remove vertices (from a face or edge) as part of an alternation.
- 1932, Harold Scott Macdonald Coxeter, The densities of the regular polytopes, part 2, reprinted in 1995, F. Arthur Sherk, Peter Mcmullen, Anthony C. Thompson, Asia Ivić Weiss (editors), Kaleidoscopes: Selected Writings of H. S. M. Coxeter, page 54,
- This case suggests that the alternation of a polyhedron should be bounded by actual vertex figures and alternated faces. The case of the cube is in agreement with this notion, since the alternated square is nothing.
- 1932, Harold Scott Macdonald Coxeter, The densities of the regular polytopes, part 2, reprinted in 1995, F. Arthur Sherk, Peter Mcmullen, Anthony C. Thompson, Asia Ivić Weiss (editors), Kaleidoscopes: Selected Writings of H. S. M. Coxeter, page 54,
Translations
to perform by turns
to happen, succeed, or act by turns
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to vary by turns
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Derived terms
Derived terms
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