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Webster 1913 Edition


Interrupt

Inˊter-rupt′

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Interrupted
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Interrupting
.]
[L.
interruptus
, p. p. of
interrumpere
to interrupt;
inter
between +
rumpere
to break. See
Rupture
.]
1.
To break into, or between; to stop, or hinder by breaking in upon the course or progress of; to interfere with the current or motion of; to cause a temporary cessation of;
as, to
interrupt
the remarks of anyone speaking
.
Do not
interrupt
me in my course.
Shakespeare
2.
To divide; to separate; to break the monotony of;
as, the evenness of the road was not
interrupted
by a single hill
.

Inˊter-rupt′

,
p.
Adj.
[L.
interruptus
, p. p.]
Broken; interrupted.
[Obs.]
Milton.

Webster 1828 Edition


Interrupt

INTERRUPT'

,
Verb.
T.
[L. interrumpo, interruptus; inter and rumpo, to break.]
1.
To stop or hinder by breaking in upon the course or progress of any thing; to break the current or motion of; as a fall of rain interrupted our journey. There was not a tree nor a bush to interrupt the charge of the enemy. The speaker was interrupted by shouts of acclamation. We apply the word both to the agent and to his progress. We say, an alarm interrupted the speaker, or his arguments or discourse.
2.
To divide; to separate; to break continuity or a continued series. The road was on a plain, not interrupted by a single hill, or interrupted here and there by a hill.

INTERRUPT'

,
Adj.
Broken; containing a chasm.

Definition 2024


interrupt

interrupt

English

Alternative forms

Verb

interrupt (third-person singular simple present interrupts, present participle interrupting, simple past and past participle interrupted)

  1. To disturb or halt an ongoing process or action by interfering suddenly.
    • Shakespeare
      Do not interrupt me in my course.
    • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 3, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
      One saint's day in mid-term a certain newly appointed suffragan-bishop came to the school chapel, and there preached on “The Inner Life.”  He at once secured attention by his informal method, and when presently the coughing of Jarvis […] interrupted the sermon, he altogether captivated his audience with a remark about cough lozenges being cheap and easily procurable.
    A maverick politician repeatedly interrupted the debate by shouting.
  2. To divide; to separate; to break the monotony of.
    The evenness of the road was not interrupted by a single hill.
  3. (computing) To assert to a computer that an exceptional condition must be handled.
    The packet receiver circuit interrupted the microprocessor.

Antonyms

Related terms

Translations

Noun

interrupt (plural interrupts)

  1. (computing, electronics) An event that causes a computer or other device to temporarily cease what it was doing and attend to a condition
    The interrupt caused the packet handler routine to run.

Translations

Derived terms