Emily Dickinson Lexicon

AL-TERN'ATE, a. [L. alternatus.]

1. Being by turns; one following the other in succession of time or place; hence reciprocal. And bid alternate passions fall and rise. – Pope.
2. In botany, branches and leaves are alternate, when they rise higher on opposite sides alternately, come out singly, and follow in gradual order. – Encyc. Lee. Alternate alligation. [See Alligation.] Alternate angles, in geometry, the internal angles made by a line cutting two parallels, and lying on opposite sides of the cutting line; the one below the first parallel, and the other above the second. – Johnson. In heraldry, the first and fourth quarters, and the second and third, are usually of the same nature, and are called alternate quarters.