bissextile
Americanadjective
noun
adjective
noun
Etymology
Origin of bissextile
1585–95; < Late Latin bi ( s ) sextilis ( annus ) leap year, equivalent to bissext ( us ) bissextus + -ilis -ile
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
So the Pope determined that in each 400 years there should be only 97 bissextile years, instead of 100, as there used to be in the Julian calendar.
From Astronomical Myths Based on Flammarions's History of the Heavens by Blake, John F.
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 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)
In ordinary years it contains 28 days; but in bissextile or leap year, by the addition of the intercalary day, it consists of 29 days.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 2 "Fairbanks, Erastus" to "Fens" by Various
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
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
