| 释义 |
▪ I. altern, a.|ælˈtɜːn, ɒl-; ˈæltən, ˈɔːl-|
[ad. L. altern-us, every other, one after the other, f. alter the other, the second; cf. mod.Fr. alterne.]
1. Alternate.
1644Rider Hor. Od. iii. xxviii, With altern share We Neptune will extoll. 1644Quarles Sheph. Orac. ix, 'Tis best to be altern; For mutuall language works a faire conclusion. 1868Geo. Eliot Sp. Gipsy, When with obliquely soaring bend altern She seems a goddess quitting earth again.
2. Cryst. Exhibiting upper and lower faces which correspond in form, but alternate with each other in the position of their sides and angles.
3. Math. altern base: in an oblique-angled triangle, the difference or sum of the segments formed by a perpendicular falling from the vertex according as it cuts the base or base produced.
1727–51Chambers Cycl. s.v., The true base is either the sum of the sides; in which case, the difference of the sides is called the altern base: or the true base is the difference of the sides; in which case, the sum of the sides is called the altern base.
4. quasi-adv. In turns, one after the other.
1667Milton P.L. vii. 348 The greater to have rule by Day, The less by Night alterne. 1757Dyer Fleece (1807) 95 Which open to the woof, and shut altern. 1792D. Lloyd Voy. Life 141 Who sang altern Of nature, and accordant providence.
▪ II. † altern, v. Obs.
[a. OFr. alterne-r, ad. L. alternā-re: see alternate a.]
= alternate v.
1447O. Bokenham Lyvys of Seyntys 48 Eftsonys she low..And aftyr wept ageyn..She alte[r]nyd the tyme mervelously. 1811Fernandez Sp. Dict., Alternar, to altern. |