ppl. a. [f. ALTERNATE v. + -ING2.] a. Succeeding each other by turns. b. Occurring in alternation to something else. c. Consisting of alternations.
1837. W. Howitt, Rur. Life, III. iii. (1862), 230. A land of alternating ridge and hollow.
1841. Trimmer, Pract. Geol., 180. Large masses which occupy extensive districts without any other alternating rock.
1855. Bain, Senses & Intell., I. ii. § 18 (1864), 50. An alternating movement is thus kept up.
1862. Trench, Mirac., xxix. 415. Alternating ebbs and flows.