intercalary

American  

[in-tur-kuh-ler-ee, in-ter-kal-uh-ree] / ɪnˈtɜr kəˌlɛr i, ˌɪn tərˈkæl ə ri /

adjective

1. inserted or interpolated in the calendar, as an extra day or month; intercalated.

2. having such an inserted day, month, etc., as a particular year.

3. inserted or introduced between other things or parts; interpolated; interposed.

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intercalary British  

/ ɪnˈtɜːkələrɪ /

adjective

1. (of a day, month, etc) inserted in the calendar

2. (of a particular year) having one or more days inserted

3. inserted, introduced, or interpolated

4. botany growing between the upper branches and the lower branches or bracts on a stem

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Other Word Forms

• intercalarily
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of intercalary

First recorded in 1605–15; from Latin intercalārius, equivalent to intercal(āre) “to intercalate ” + -ārius -ary

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

intercalary

But all this — this gripping story about the outrages endured on a pre-Civil War Georgia farm — appears only in the intercalary chapters, or “Songs,” as Jeffers calls them.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 23, 2021

The reflection between Sarat’s private ordeal and the country’s vast, ongoing calamity is sustained by a series of intercalary chapters: excerpts from history books, news reports, memoirs and speeches.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 3, 2017

By analysing unassembled genomic data we estimated total amounts of 15.4Mb centromeric, 6.0Mb intercalary, and 0.6Mb subtelomeric satellite DNA, as well as 10.0Mb of 18S-5.8S-25S and 5S ribosomal genes.

From Nature ● Jan. 22, 2014

The intercalary day or 24 hours being suppressed in 1700, causes the civil year to be 6 hours in advance of the solar, and is represented on the chart 6 hours in advance.

From Our Calendar by George Nichols Packer

At the end of another 120 years they inserted an intercalary month after the second month, and so on through all their twelve months.

From Astronomical Myths Based on Flammarions's History of the Heavens by John F. Blake