intercalary
/ɪnˈtəːkəl(ə)ri
/ /ˌɪntəˈkal(ə)ri /adjective
1(Of a day or a month) inserted in the calendar to harmonize it with the solar year, e.g. 29 February in leap years: eighteen months of twenty days each and five intercalary days...
- In the old calendar, an intercalary month of 22 or 23 days called Mercedonius was inserted after the Festival of Terminalia in every other year or as needed.
- He added two extra intercalary months apart from the one regular intercalary month to the year 46 BC.
- In ancient Egypt, for civil purposes, a solar calendar of 365 days to the year was used in which there were 12 months of 30 days and 5 intercalary days.
2(Of an academic year or period) additional to the standard course and taken at a different institution: the intercalary year is taken between the second and final years
3Of the nature of an insertion: elaborate intercalary notes
4 Botany (Of the meristem of a plant) located between its daughter cells, especially (in a grass) at or near the base of a leaf.In these stems and leaves with intercalary meristems, the upward transpiration stream clearly bypassed most of the enlarging cells....
- Cell division occurs mainly at the intercalary meristem at the base of the internode, but also throughout the internode at early stages of internode development.
- Leaves are formed from an intercalary meristem which is positioned within the leaf sheaths of subtending leaves.
Origin
Early 17th century: from Latin intercalarius, from intercalare (see intercalate).