▪ I. interminate, a. Now rare.
(ɪnˈtɜːmɪnət)
[ad. L. intermināt-us, f. in- (in-3) + terminātus ended, terminate ppl. a. Cf. F. interminé(16th c.).]
1. That is without end or limit; endless, boundless, infinite.
| 1533 Bellenden Livy iv. (1822) 386 Quhen Servilius had conquest, be thir wourdis, interminate loveing and favoure of all the pepill. 1615 Chapman Odyss. vii. K v b, Within a thicket I reposde..and found..a sleepe interminate. a 1677 Hale Prim. Orig. Man. ii. iv. 159 The very same supineness and negligence..for interminate Ages. 1677 Gale Crt. Gentiles iv. 142 Sin is interminate and infinite, but good terminate and finite, as the Pythagoreans hold. 1852 Bp. Forbes Nicene Cr. 35 There is one Principle of all things..unbegotten, indestructible,..interminate. |
b. Arith. interminate decimal, a fractional number that cannot be exactly expressed by tenths, tenths of tenths, and so on, but either repeats, as ·3. = 1/3, circulates, as ·1.42857. = 1/7, or continues without any definite order, as the decimal in the square root of 2, 3, 5 or other non-square number, in the value of π, etc.
| 1726 Colson in Phil. Trans. XXXIV. 163 In this last Example the Numbers are what I call interminate, or Approximations only. 1866 Arithm. Irish Nat. Schools 178 We cannot always obtain an exact quotient, when we divide one number by another:—in such a case, what is called an interminate, or..a recurring, or circulating decimal is produced. |
† 2. quasi-adv. Without end, always. Obs.
| 1556 Abp. Parker Ps. cxxxi. 384 Be meeke: flee pryde..From this tyme forth interminate. |
▪ II. † interminate, v. Obs. rare.
[f. ppl. stem of L. interminārī, f. inter between + minārī to threaten; cf. obs. F. interminer (Godef.).]
trans. To threaten, menace (a thing). Hence † interminated ppl. a.
| a 1631 Donne Serm. xxxv. 347 In all those three Evangelists where this fearful Denunciation is interminated. a 1656 Bp. Hall Rem. Wks. (1660) 163 But enough, enough of these dolefull accents of these interminated judgments. |