a. Math. [f. FINITE a., after millesimal, etc.] Denoted by the ordinal of a finite number.
1861. H. J. S. Smith, Th. Numbers, III., in Rep. Brit. Assoc., 326. Any term which occupies a finitesimal place in any one arrangement should occupy a finitesimal place in every other arrangement.
¶ ? Erroneously used for infinitesimal, in the sense ‘exceedingly minute.’
1836. E. Howard, Rattlin, the Reefer, xxxvii. I was lately afflicted with a sort of nondescript atrophy, a stagnation of the fluids, a congestion of the small blood-vessels, and a spasmodic contraction of the finitesimal nerves, that threatened very serious consequences.
