The Collaborative International Dictionary
Intermit \In`ter*mit"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Intermitted; p. pr. & vb. n. Intermitting.] [L. intermittere; inter between + mittere, missum, to send: cf. OE. entremeten to busy (one's self) with, F. s'entremettre. See Missile.] To cause to cease for a time, or at intervals; to interrupt; to suspend.
Pray to the gods to intermit the plague.
--Shak.
Wiktionary
vb. (present participle of intermit English)
WordNet
See intermit
v. cease an action temporarily; "We pause for station identification"; "let's break for lunch" [syn: pause, break]
[also: intermitting, intermitted]
Usage examples of "intermitting".
As I kept passing and repassing the filling or woof of marline between the long yarns of the warp, using my own hand for the shuttle, and as Queequeg, standing sideways, ever and anon slid his heavy oaken sword between the threads, and idly looking off upon the water, carelessly and unthinkingly drove home every yarn: I say so strange a dreaminess did there then reign all over the ship and all over the sea, only broken by the intermitting dull sound of the sword, that it seemed as if this were the Loom of Time, and I myself were a shuttle mechanically weaving and weaving away at the Fates.
As I kept passing and repassing the filling or woof of marline between the long yarns of the warps, using my own hand for the shuttle, and as Queequeg, standing sideways, ever and anon slid his heavy oaken sword between the threads, and idly looking off upon the water, carelessly and unthinkingly drove home every yarn: I say so strange a dreaminess did there then reign all over the ship and all over the sea, only broken by the intermitting dull sound of the sword, that it seemed as if this were the Loom of Time, and I myself were a shuttle mechanically weaving and weaving away at the Fates.