2 entries under this word
v. t. [imp. & p. p. INTERMITTED; p. pr. & vb. n. INTERMITTING.] [Lat. intermittere, from inter, between, and mittere, to send; It. intermettere, Sp. intermitir, O. Fr. entremettre.] To cause to cease for a time; to interrupt; to suspend.
Pray to the gods to intermit the plague That needs must light on this ingratitude. Shak.
v. i. To cease for a time; to go off at intervals, as a fever.
Intermitting or intermittent springs, springs which flow at intervals, not apparently dependent upon rain or drought. They owe their intermittent action to their being connected with natural reservoirs in hills or mountains by passages having the form of a siphon, the water beginning to flow when it has accumulated so as to fill the upper part of the siphon, and ceasing when, by running through it, it has fallen below the orifice of the upper part of the siphon in the reservoir.