bissextile

American  

[bahy-seks-til, -tahyl, bih-] / baɪˈsɛks tɪl, -taɪl, bɪ- /

adjective

1. containing or noting the extra day of leap year.

   The years 1980 and 1984 were both bissextile.

---

noun

1. leap year.

bissextile British  

/ bɪˈsɛkstaɪl /

adjective

1. (of a month or year) containing the extra day of a leap year

---

noun

1. a rare name for leap year

Etymology

Origin of bissextile

1585–95; < Late Latin bi ( s ) sextilis ( annus ) leap year, equivalent to bissext ( us ) bissextus + -ilis -ile

Example Sentences

The whole acre divided into four denotes the bissextile period of four years.

From The Ruins, or, Meditation on the Revolutions of Empires and the Law of Nature by Volney, C.-F. (Constantin-François)

I refer you to Montucla, if you have any doubt about the Egyptian year being of 365 days without bissextile of any kind.

From Personal Recollections, from Early Life to Old Age, of Mary Somerville by Somerville, Mary

The bissextile is known to have been used by the Mayas, Tzendals, and Quichés, and it was probably common.

From Ancient America, in Notes on American Archaeology by Baldwin, John D. (John Denison)

The lower classes calculate, purely by the mind without any help from pen or pencil, questions respecting interest; determine whether a given year be bissextile or not, &c. &c.

From The Uncollected Writings of Thomas de Quincey—Vol. 1 With a Preface and Annotations by James Hogg by Hogg, James

This rule of the bissextile year, Rome, which is destined to endure to the end of time, established with the aid of the heavenly Deity.

From The Roman History of Ammianus Marcellinus During the Reigns of the Emperors Constantius, Julian, Jovianus, Valentinian, and Valens by Yonge, Charles Duke