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The quality or condition of being reciprocal; mutual return; alternateness.

To move forward and backward alternately; to recur in vicissitude; to act interchangeably; to alternate. One brawny smith the puffing bellows plies, And draws and blows reciprocating air. Dryden. Reciprocating engine, a steam, air, or gas engine, etc., in which the piston moves back and forth; -- in distinction from a…

Alternate recurrence or action; as, the reciprocation of the sea in the flow and ebb of tides. Sir T. Browne.

Having recurring flow and ebb; moving alternately. [Obs.] Drayton.

The answer of the people to the priest in alternate speaking, in church service.

Armature winding in which the wire is wound round the outer and inner surfaces alternately of an annular or cylindrical core.

r superiority; as, rival lovers; rival claims or pretensions. The strenuous conflicts and alternate victories of two rival confederacies of statesmen. Macaulay.

To move, as waves or billows, with alternate swell and depression. What different sorrows did within thee roll. Prior.

nce upon the skin, occurring in circumscribed patches of little or no elevation and often alternately fading and reviving; also, an acute specific disease which is characterized by an eruption of this character; -- called also rose rash. -- Ro*se"o*lous, a.

Having alternate ridges and depressions; wrinkled. Dana.

A West Indian plant (Alternanthera polygonoides) somewhat resembling burstwort.

dwich; also, figuratively, to insert between portions of something dissimilar; to form of alternate parts or things, or alternating layers of a different nature; to interlard.

A variety of onyx consisting of sard and white chalcedony in alternate layers.

cooked with crumbs. Scalloped oysters (Cookery), opened oysters baked in a deep dish with alternate layers of bread or cracker crumbs, seasoned with pepper, nutmeg, and butter. This was at first done in scallop shells.

A dish of crust or pastry and meat or fish, etc., cooked together in alternate layers, -- a common food of sailors; as, a three-decker sea pie.

One of the divisions of the year, marked by alternations in the length of day and night, or by distinct conditions of temperature, moisture, etc., caused mainly by the relative position of the earth with respect to the sun. In the north temperate zone, four seasons, namely, spring, summer, autumn, and winter, are gener…

To follow in the next place; to succeed; to alternate. [R.] In the method of nature, a low valley is immediately seconded with an ambitious hill. Fuller. Sin is seconded with sin. South.

A plant (Ludwigia alternifolia) which has somewhat cubical or box-shaped capsules.

A light fabric, originally made in the East Indies, of silk and linen, usually having alternating stripes, and a slightly craped or puckered surface; also, a cotton fabric of similar appearance.

ey are seated upon the opposite ends of a plank which is balanced in the middle, and move alternately up and down.