Etymology Borrowed from Latin alternātus, the perfect passive participle of Latin alternō (“to take turns”) (see -ate (1,2 and 3)), from alternus (“one after another, by turns”), from alter (“other”) + -nus. Doublet of altern; see also alter.
1
Happening by turns; one following the other in succession of time or place; first one and then the other (repeatedly).
And bid alternate passions fall and rise1711 May, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Criticism, London: […] W[illiam] Lewis […]; and sold by W[illiam] Taylor […], T[homas] Osborn[e] […], and J[ohn] Graves […], →OCLC:
One of the two boxes displaced by the new Pelaw installation will be Springwell, between Boldon Colliery and Pelaw, which has recently had the distinction of being manned by a husband and wife on alternate shifts.1960 September, “Talking of Trains: Newcastle signal area enlarged”, in Trains Illustrated, page 522:
1 more example
The service is half-hourly as far as Harrogate and Knaresborough, with alternate trains going on to York.2021 December 15, Robin Leleux, “Awards honour the best restoration projects: The Arch Company Award for Urban Heritage: Knaresborough”, in RAIL, number 946, page 56:
2
Government, Heraldry, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Monarchy, Nobility, Politics Alternating; (of e.g. a pair of tinctures which a charge is coloured) succeeding in turns, or (relative to the field) counterchanged.
Goldschmidt (Austria; creation July 27, 1862): [...] party, argent and gules, an eagle of alternate colors, [...]1925, The Jewish Encyclopedia: Chazars-Dreyfus Case, page 128:
3
Mathematics, Sciences 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.
Etymology Borrowed from Latin alternātus, the perfect passive participle of Latin alternō (“to take turns”) (see -ate (1,2 and 3)), from alternus (“one after another, by turns”), from alter (“other”) + -nus. Doublet of altern; see also alter.
1
That which alternates with something else; vicissitude.
Grateful alternates of substantial peace.1718, Mat[thew] Prior, “Solomon on the Vanity of the World. A Poem in Three Books.”, in Poems on Several Occasions, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], and John Barber […], →OCLC, (please specify the page):
2
US A substitute; an alternative; one designated to take the place of another, if necessary, in performing some duty.
An alternate for the first-string quarterback played the entire first half.
Corridors beyond this point have collapsed. I'm looking for an alternate. Careful.2007 September 25, Bungie, Halo 3, spoken by Cortana (Jen Taylor), Microsoft Game Studios, Xbox 360, level/area: Cortana:
3
Mathematics, Sciences A proportion derived from another proportion by interchanging the means.
4
US A replacement of equal or greater value or function.
alternate
verb
UK /ˈɒl.tə(ɹ)ˌneɪt/ · US /ˈɔl.tɚ.neɪt/
Etymology Borrowed from Latin alternātus, the perfect passive participle of Latin alternō (“to take turns”) (see -ate (1,2 and 3)), from alternus (“one after another, by turns”), from alter (“other”) + -nus. Doublet of altern; see also alter.
1
To perform by turns, or in succession; to cause to succeed by turns; to interchange regularly.
The most high God, in all things appertaining unto this life, for sundry wise ends alternates the disposition of good and evil.1701, Nehemiah Grew, Cosmologia Sacra:
2
To happen, succeed, or act by turns; to follow reciprocally in place or time; followed by with.
The flood and ebb tides alternate with each other.
3
To vary by turns.
The land alternates between rocky hills and sandy plains.
4
Geometry, Mathematics, Sciences To perform an alternation (removal of alternate vertices) on (a polytope or tessellation); to remove vertices (from a face or edge) as part of an alternation.
This case suggests that the alternation of a polyhedron should be bounded by actual vertex figures and alternated faces. The case of the cube is in agreement with this notion, since the alternated square is nothing.1932, Harold Scott Macdonald Coxeter, The densities of the regular polytopes, part 2, reprinted in 1995, F. Arthur Sherk, Peter Mcmullen, Anthony C. Thompson, Asia Ivić Weiss (editors), Kaleidoscopes: Selected Writings of H. S. M. Coxeter, page 54: