bissextile
n.
leap year
adj.
pertaining to a leap year
Leap year
A leap year (or intercalary year) is a year containing one or more extra days (or, in case of
lunisolar calendars, an extra month) in order to keep the
calendar year synchronised with the
astronomical or
seasonal year. For example, February would have 29 days in a leap year instead of the usual 28. Seasons and astronomical events do not repeat at an exact number of full days, so a calendar which had the same number of days in each year would over time drift with respect to the event it was supposed to track. By occasionally inserting (or
intercalating) an additional day or month into the year, the drift can be corrected. A year which is not a leap year is called a
common year. In fact, the Earth takes slightly under 365 1/4 days to revolve around the Sun.
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bissextile
adj.
bissextile
bissextile (f)
n.
leap year, year that has 366 days (as opposed to 365)
Bissextile
(n.)
Leap year; every fourth year, in which a day is added to the month of February on account of the excess of the tropical year (365 d. 5 h. 48 m. 46 s.) above 365 days. But one day added every four years is equivalent to six hours each year, which is 11 m. 14 s. more than the excess of the real year. Hence, it is necessary to suppress the bissextile day at the end of every century which is not divisible by 400, while it is retained at the end of those which are divisible by 400.
(a.)
Pertaining to leap year.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), edited by Noah Porter.
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bissextilis
ADJ
leap (year); (two "sixth" days before first/calends of March)