Alternate \Al*ter"nate\ (?; 277), a. [L. alternatus, p. p. of alternate, fr. alternus. See {Altern}, {Alter}.] 1. Being or succeeding by turns; one following the other in succession of time or place; by turns first one and then the other; hence, reciprocal. [1913 Webster]
And bid alternate passions fall and rise. --Pope. [1913 Webster]
2. Designating the members in a series, which regularly intervene between the members of another series, as the odd or even numbers of the numerals; every other; every second; as, the alternate members 1, 3, 5, 7, etc.; read every alternate line. [1913 Webster]
3. (Bot.) Distributed, as leaves, singly at different heights of the stem, and at equal intervals as respects angular divergence. --Gray. [1913 Webster]
{Alternate alligation}. See {Alligation}.
{Alternate angles} (Geom.), the internal and angles made by two lines with a third, on opposite sides of it. It the parallels AB, CD, are cut by the line EF, the angles AGH, GHD, as also the angles BGH and GHC, are called alternate angles.
{Alternate generation}. (Biol.) See under {Generation}. [1913 Webster]

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