alternat (altern a)

[F., By the alternat is intended the practice, sometimes adopted in signing conventions, of alternating in the order of priority of signature, according to some fixed rule, so as to cut off questions of rank. Woolsey , Introd. to Inter. Law, note to § 94. alternate (al'ter-nāt, formerly al-ter'nāt), v.; pret. and pp. alternated, ppr. alternating. [ Melodious hymns about the sovran throne Alternate all night long. Milton , P. L., v. 657. 2. To cause to succeed or follow one another in time or place reciprocally; interchange reciprocally. The most high God... alternates the disposition of good and evil. 0. Grew, Sermons. Alternating worry with quiet qualms, Bravado with submi ivene . Browning, Ring and Book, I. 53. II. in trans. 1. To follow one another in time or place reciprocally: generally followed by with : as, the flood and ebb tides alternate one with the other. Rage, shame, and grief alternate in his breast. J. Philips, Blenheim, v. 339. Pale Want alternated With Plenty's golden smile. Whittier, The Exiles. 2. To pa from one state, action, or place to a second, back to the first, and so on indefinitely: used with between , and sometimes with another, as in the case a Spanish viceroy exercising regal power. alter idem (al'ter i'dem). [L.: alter, other (see alter ); idem, the same.] Another and the same; another precisely similar.