Etymology : Latin interpolatus, past participle of interpolare to refurbish, alter, interpolate, from inter- + -polare
Pronunciation : in-'t&r-p&-"lAt
Function : verb
Date : 1612
1. insert something new, add something between parts; intercalate; alter a text (especially in an unauthorized manner); add an intermediate term (Mathematics). interpolate\in*ter"po*late\ , v. t. [imp. & p. p. interpolated ; p. pr. & vb. n. interpolating.] [l. interpolatus, p. p. of interpolare to form anew, to interpolate, fr. interpolus, interpolis, falsified, vamped up, polished up; inter between + polire to polish. see:
polish, v. t.].
2. to renew; to carry on with intermission. [obs.] motion partly continued and unintermitted, partly interpolated and interrupted. m. hale.
3. to alter or corrupt by the insertion of new or foreign matter; especially, to change, as a book or text, by the insertion of matter that is new, or foreign to the purpose of the author. how strangely ignatius is mangled and interpolated, you may see:
by the vast difference of all copies and editions. barlow. the athenians were put in possession of salamis by another law, which was cited by solon, or, as some think, interpolated by him for that purpose.
4. (math.) to fill up intermediate terms of, as of a series, according to the law of the series; to introduce, as a number or quantity, in a partial series, according to the law of that part of the series.interpolate v.
5. estimate the value of; in mathematics [syn: extrapolate].
6. insert words into texts [syn: alter, falsify].
7. To renew; to carry on with intermission.
8. To alter or corrupt by the insertion of new or foreign matter; especially, to change, as a book or text, by the insertion of matter that is new, or foreign to the purpose of the author.
9. To fill up intermediate terms of, as of a series, according to the law of the series; to introduce, as a number or quantity, in a partial series, according to the law of that part of the series. insert words into texts, often falsifying it thereby estimate the value of.
10. If you interpolate a comment into a conversation or some words into a piece of writing, you put it in as an addition. Williams interpolated much spurious matter These odd assertions were interpolated into the manuscript some time after 1400. = insert.