discontinuous, a.
(dɪskənˈtɪnjuːəs)
[f. med.L. discontinu-us (in F. discontinu), f. dis- 4 + continuus: see continuous.]
(Not in Johnson.)
† 1. Producing discontinuity; breaking continuity between parts; gaping. Obs.
| 1667 Milton P.L. vi. 329 So sore The griding sword with discontinuous wound Pass'd through him. 1703 J. Philips Splendid Shilling (T.), A horrid chasm, disclos'd with orifice Wide, discontinuous. |
2. Not continuous in space or time; characterized by want of continuity; having interstices or breaks; interrupted, intermittent.
| 1718 Rowe tr. Lucan iii. 755 (Seager) Towers, engines, all come thundering to the ground: Wide spread the discontinuous ruins lie. 1750 tr. Leonardus' Mirr. Stones 32 In which case the stones would be discontinuous and appear like little stones. 1832 Nat. Philos., Electro-Magnet. xi. §176 (Useful Knowl. Soc.) When the conductors are imperfect, the currents are discontinuous. 1880 A. R. Wallace Isl. Life 13 This is one of the best cases..of the discontinuous distribution of a species. 1883 Sir J. W. Chitty in Law Rep. 26 Ch. Div. 442 A right of way..is a discontinuous easement, because a man is not always walking in and out of his front door. |
3. Math. discontinuous function: one that varies discontinuously, and whose differential coefficient may therefore become infinite: opp. to continuous function (see continuous 3).
| 1837 Babbage Bridgew. Treat. iii. 59 note, Every law so imagined might be interrupted by any discontinuous function. 1845 Cayley Inverse Elliptic Funct., Analytically discontinuous. 1881 Maxwell Electr. & Magn. I. 8 The first derivatives of a continuous function may be discontinuous. 1885 Watson & Burbury Math. Th. Electr. & Magn. I. 50 If ρ, the density of matter, be finite in any portion of space, the first differential coefficients of V cannot be discontinuous in that portion of space. |