▪ I. repetend, n.
(ˈrɛpɪtɛnd, rɛpɪˈtɛnd)
[ad. L. repetend-um ‘(that) which is to be repeated’, neuter gerundive of repetĕre to repeat.]
1. Arith. The recurring figure or figures in an interminate decimal fraction. (Cf. repeat v. 6 b.) Also fig.
| 1714 S. Cunn Treat. Fractions 62 The Figure or Figures continually circulating, may be called a Repetend. 1718 Malcolm Arith. Pref. (1730) 12 His [Cunn's] rule for the addition of Circulates having compound Repetends is insufficient for a general rule. 1802–12 Bentham Ration. Judic. Evid. (1827) III. 198 A chain of character evidence without end; an arithmetical repetend. 1830 Westm. Rev. Oct. 442 Think you that this number is the whole? So far from being so, it is a repetend. 1854 B. Smith Arith. 76 |
2. A recurring note, word, or phrase; a refrain.
| 1874 Holland Mistr. Manse vii. 6 Then [the bells] faltered to their closing toll Whose long, monotonous repetend [etc.]. 1880 Scribner's Mag. May 116 In ‘The Raven’, ‘Lenore’, and elsewhere, he employed the repetend also. 1895 C. A. Smith Repetit. & Parall. 17 The first 7 stanzas observe alternate initial repetition, ‘Puisque’ being the repetend employed. |
▪ II. repetend, a. rare.
(ˈrɛpɪtɛnd)
[ad. L. repetendus, gerundive of repetĕre to repeat.]
That is to be repeated.
| 1929 R. Bridges Test. Beauty iv. 181 Taketh repetend life and exuberant difformity of disorder'd growth. |