integer, a. and n.
(ˈɪntɪdʒə(r))
[a. L. integer untouched, intact, entire, f. in- (in-3) + tag-, teg-, root of tangĕre to touch. Cf. F. intègre (1567 in Hatz.-Darm.), and entire.]
A. adj. (Now rare or Obs.)
† 1. Having no part taken away or wanting; whole, entire: = integral A. 3. Obs.
| a 1509 Wolsey Let. to Hen. VII in Lett. Rich. III (Rolls) I. App. 443 Wher I seyd that the emperors m...he dote of thre hunderyth thousan..should..have the seyd integyr dote in effect and equyvalen..[MS. imperf.] |
† 2. Marked by moral integrity; honest, upright. Obs.
| 1644 Vicars God in Mount 108 The face of their best and most integer proceedings. |
3. Math. Denoting a whole thing or number of whole things; denoted by a whole number; ‘whole’, not fractional: = integral A. 4 a. Now rare or Obs.
| 1660 Boyle New Exp. Phys. Mech. xii, I had..found that..14 and 1 be the nearest of small integer numbers that express the proportion between the specifick gravities of quicksilver and water. 1806 Hutton Course Math. I. 52 A whole or integer number may be expressed like a fraction, by writing 1 below it, as a denominator. 1833 Herschel Astron. ii. 79 To keep the reckoning of the integer days correct..is the object of the calendar. |
B. n.
1. Math. A number or quantity denoting one or more whole things or units; a whole number or undivided quantity. Opp. to fraction.
| 1571 Digges Pantom. iv. v. V ij b, The containing circles Semidimetient being very nighe 1119/21 for exactly nether by integer nor fraction it can be expressed. 1675 Ogilby Brit. Pref. 4 Not regarding the Fractional Parts of a Mile, but taking the lesser Integer. 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. iii. xi, The Fraction will become..an Integer. 1875 Todhunter Alg. (ed. 7) lii, Theory of Numbers. Throughout the present Chapter the word number is used as an abbreviation for positive integer. |
2. A particular quantity of any kind (as money, weight, length, etc.) taken as the unit of measurement. Now rare or Obs.
| 1822 J. Flint Lett. Amer. 50 The dollar is the integer of money in the United States. 1827 Faraday Chem. Manip. iii. 67 Two integers..the pint and the cubic inch. 1868 E. Seyd Bullion (1880) 146 The Carat serves as the Integer. |
3. gen. (often with allusion to 1): A whole or entire thing or entity, either as complete in itself, or as the sum of its parts or elements.
| a 1848 R. W. Hamilton Rew. & Punishm. v. (1853) 202 The soul is the integer of the man. 1859 Helps Friends in C. Ser. ii. II. viii. 150 You would never amongst you all make up the noble integer. 1875 E. White Life in Christ i. iii. (1878) 23 Death is followed by the speedy dissipation of the combined elements which formed the organism..The Integer, the Animal which resulted from the former combination, is no more. 1899 R. C. Temple Univ. Gram. 4 Functionally a word is either—(1) An integer, or a sentence in itself. |