bissextile, a. and n.
(bɪˈsɛkstɪl)
[ad. L. bi(s)sextilis (annus), i.e. (the year) of the bissextus: see prec.]
A. adj. Containing the bissextus or extra day which the Julian calendar inserts in leap-year. bissextile day (= L. bissextus dies; see above).
| [1398 The yere Bisextilis: see prec..] 1594 Blundevil Exerc. iii. i. xli. (ed. 7) 355 The Bissextile or leape yeere, containing 366 daies. 1696 Whiston Th. Earth ii. (1722) 158 The Julian Calendar..intercalates the Bissextile Day immediately after the Terminalia. 1768 Blackstone Comm. II. 140 In bissextile or leap-years. 1854 Tomlinson Arago's Astron. 189 Thus 1600 was bissextile, 1700 and 1800 were not so. |
B. n. Leap-year.
| 1581 Lambarde Eiren. iv. v. (1588) 491 The Bissextile (or Leepe yeere) which hapneth once in every foure yeeres. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 586. 1834 M. Somerville Connex. Pys. Sc. xii. 95 If in addition to this, a bissextile be suppressed every 4000 years, the length of the year will be nearly equal to that given by observation. |