recur

present singular third person recurs · participle present recurring · participle past recurred · past recurred · first person past singular recurred · archaic present second person singular recurrest · past second person singular recurred · archaic past second person singular recurredst · present singular third person recurs · archaic present singular third person recurreth · past singular third person recurred · past plural recurred · past subjunctive recurred · participle present recurring · participle past recurred

1. intransitiveOf an event, situation, etc.: to appear or happen again, especially repeatedly.

   The theme of the prodigal son recurs later in the third act.

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   For it is manifeſt, that all the Arguments that are brought Chap. 2, Sect. 3. vvill recur vvith full force in this place.

   1659, Henry More, chapter VI, in The Immortality of the Soul, so Farre Forth as It is Demonstrable from the Knowledge of Nature and the Light of Reason, London: […] J[ames] Flesher, for William Morden […], →OCLC, book II, paragraph 3, page 175

   But ſtill, the Queſtion recurs, vvhether Man be Free?

   1732, George Berkeley, “The Seventh Dialogue”, in Alciphron: Or, The Minute Philosopher. […], volume II, London: […] J[acob] Tonson […], →OCLC, section XXII, page 183

   All this pressed on his mind; yet the original statement recurred with the same irresistible force.

   1814 July 7, [Walter Scott], “Repentance, and a Reconciliation”, in Waverley; or, ’Tis Sixty Years Since. […], 2nd edition, volume I, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, page 159

   But the knot of causes recurreth in which I am twined. It will create me again! I myself belong unto the causes of eternal recurrence.

   1896, Friedrich Nietzsche, “The Convalescent One”, in Alexander Tille, transl., Thus Spake Zarathustra […] (The Works of Friedrich Nietzsche; VIII), New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, 3rd part, section 2, page 321

   Finally the question recurred, but flung now like a challenging gauntlet in the lists: Why not order today?

   1915, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter LXXXVI, in Of Human Bondage, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, →OCLC, page 449

   Synonyms: recrudesce, recourse, rehappen, reoccur, repeat

   1. intransitivemedicineOf a disease or symptom: to happen again, especially repeatedly or after a remission or an apparent recovery.

      The bullet had grazed the optic nerve. […] The oculist had warned him that the trouble might recur, that he ought to have remained under observation. Well, it had recurred about four months ago.

      1928 July 27, Radclyffe Hall, chapter 52, in The Well of Loneliness […], New York, N.Y.: Covici Friede Publishers, published December 1928, →OCLC, book 5, section 2, page 477

      Synonyms: recrudesce, recourse, rehappen, reoccur, repeat

2. intransitiveOf a memory, thought, etc.: to come to the mind again.

   [T]he Idea I have once had vvill be unchangeably the ſame as long as it recurs the ſame in my Memory; but vvhen another different from that comes into my Mind, it vvill not be that.

   a. 1705, John Locke, “An Examination of P[ère] Malebranche’s Opinion of Seeing All Things in God”, in Posthumous Works of Mr. John Locke: […], London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], published 1706, →OCLC, paragraph 52, page 205

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   The Saturday at night before he ſuffered, he dream'd his chaine vvas brought to the Counter gate, that the next day being Sunday, he ſhould be had to Nevvgate and burned at Smithfield the Munday enſuing, vvhich after many frightfull avvakings, ſtill recurring to his troubled fancy, he aroſe, and communicating vvhat he had dreamed to his Chamber-fellovv, fell to his old exerciſe of reading and praying.

   1651, Thomas Fuller, “The Life and Death of John Bradford”, in Abel Redevivus: Or, The Dead Yet Speaking. The Lives and Deaths of the Moderne Divines. […], London: […] Tho[mas] Brudenell for John Stafford, […], →OCLC, page 187

   […] Men that are of a talkative and melancholy temper see any kind of visions. And this, especially because they have so deep a resentment [i.e., impression] of the most affecting objects, whose images therefore recur to the fancy when they are asleep, in most distinct and lively figures.

   1665, John Spencer, “Many Modern Prophecies Proved to Arise from Melancholy”, in A Discourse Concerning Vulgar Prophecies […], London: […] J[ohn] Field for Timothy Garthwait, →OCLC, page 101

   Zan[ga]. Carry you Goodneſs then to ſuch Extreme, / So blinded to the Faults of him you love, / That you perceive not he is jealous? / Leon[ora]. Heav'ns! / And yet a Thouſand Things recur that ſvvear it.

   1721 April 29 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), E[dward] Young, The Revenge: A Tragedy. […], London: […] W. Chetwood […], and S. Chapman […], published 1721, →OCLC, Act V, page 53

   Though Jones had never ſeen Mrs. Fitzpatrick, yet he had heard that a Couſin of Sophia vvas married to a Gentleman of that Name. This, hovvever, in the present Tumult of his Mind, never once recurred to his Memory: […]

   1749, Henry Fielding, “What Befel Mr. Jones on His Arrival in London”, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume V, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book XIII, page 14

   [H]e may therefore be juſtly numbered among the benefactors of mankind, vvho contracts the great rules of life into ſhort ſentences, vvhich may be eaſily impreſſed on the memory, and taught by frequent recollection to recur habitually to the mind, vvhenever occaſion calls them into uſe.

   1751 November 29 (Gregorian calendar), Samuel Johnson, “No. 175. Monday, November 19. 1751.”, in The Rambler, volume VII, Edinburgh: […] Sands, Murray, and Cochran; sold by W. Gordon, C. Wright, J. Yair, […], published 1752, →OCLC, page 119

3. datedintransitiveTo speak, think, or write about something again; to go back or return to a memory, a subject, etc.

   But firſt I ſhall recurre, and give a touch upon the nature of Gravity.

   1662, Henry More, “An Antidote against Atheism: or, An Appeal to the Natural Faculties of the Mind of Man, whether there Be Not a God. … The Third Edition […]. Chapter I.”, in A Collection of Several Philosophical Writings of Dr Henry More […], London: […] James Flesher for William Morden, […], →OCLC, book II, paragraph 7, page 43

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   But before vve proceed to vvhat paſſed on his Arrival in the Kitchin, it vvill be neceſſary to recur to vvhat had there happened ſince Partridge had firſt left it on his Maſter's Summons.

   1749, Henry Fielding, “Containing, among Other Things, the Ingenuity of Partridge, the Madness of Jones, and the Folly of Fitzpatrick”, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume IV, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book X, page 50

   Again am I recurring to a ſubject I vviſh to quit. But ſince I cannot, I vvill give my pen its courſe—Pen, take thy courſe.

   1753 (indicated as 1754), [Samuel Richardson], “Letter LII. Lady Clementina della Porretta, to Sir Charles Grandison.”, in The History of Sir Charles Grandison. […], volume IV, London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; [a]nd sold by C. Hitch and L. Hawes, […], →OCLC, page 340

   He was in high spirits; as ready to talk and laugh as ever, and seemed delighted to speak of his former visit, and recur to old stories: and he was not without agitation.

   1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], chapter I, in Emma: […], volume III, London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC, page 3

   I returned home, not disappointed, for I have said that I had long considered those authors useless whom the professor reprobated; but I returned, not at all the more inclined to recur to these studies in any shape.

   1831 October 31, Mary W[ollstonecraft] Shelley, chapter III, in Frankenstein: Or, The Modern Prometheus (Standard Novels; IX), 3rd edition, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 33

   I'm sorry to say any ill of your friends, and the thing was a long time ago; besides which there was nothing to make me recur to it.

   1904 November 10, Henry James, chapter XXXIV, in The Golden Bowl, volume II, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, 2nd book (The Princess), 4th part, page 204

4. archaicintransitiveFollowed by to, or (Scotland, obsolete) on or upon: to have recourse to someone or something for assistance, support, etc.; to appeal, to resort, to turn to.

   [I]f his Grace vvere minded, or vvould intend to do a thing inique or injuſt, there vvere no need to recurr unto the Pope's Holineſe for doing thereof.

   1529 (date written), [Thomas Wolsey], “[A Collection of Records and Original Papers; with Other Instruments Referred to in the Former History.] XXII. The Second Part of a Long Dispatch of the Cardinals Concerning the Divorce. An Original..”, in Gilbert Burnet, The History of the Reformation of the Church of England. The First Part, […], London: […] T[homas] H[odgkin] for Richard Chiswell, […], published 1679, →OCLC, page 51

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   And surely here I admire the goodnes of God towards our Nation, that he would Saint Austin [Augustine of Hippo] should enquire such small matters of S. Gregory, and that his questions should remaine to our dayes, both to shew vs by our first Apostle what account we should make of the resolution of the Sea Apostolick, and […] in all difficulties recur to her, […]

   1609, [Richard Smith], “That Saint Austin was a Great Clerk and Excellent Diuine”, in The Prudentiall Ballance of Religion wherin the Catholike and Protestant Religion are Weighed together with the Weights of Prudence, and Right Reason. […], [Saint-Omer, France]: […] [François Bellet], →OCLC, page 29

   Others have been ſo blind in deducing the originall of things, or delivering their ovvne beginnings, that vvhen it hath fallen into controverſie they have not recurred unto Chronologie or the records of time, but betaken themſelves unto probabilities, and the conjecturalities of Philoſophy.

   1646, Thomas Browne, “Concerning the Beginning of the World, that the Time thereof is Not Precisely to bee Knowne, as Men Generally Suppose: […]”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], London: […] T[homas] H[arper] for Edward Dod, […], →OCLC, 6th book, page 274

   If to avoid Succeſſion in eternal Exiſtence, they recur to the Punctum Stans [standing point] of the Schools, I ſuppoſe they vvill thereby very little mend the matter, or help us to a more clear and poſitive Idea of infinite Duration, there being nothing more inconceivable to me, than Duration vvithout Succeſſion.

   1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], “Of Infinity”, in An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC, book II, § 16, page 107

   The barbarian […] acts from affections unacquainted vvith forms; and vvhen provoked, or vvhen engaged in diſputes, he recurs to the ſvvord, as the ultimate means of deciſion, in all queſtions of right.

   1767, Adam Ferguson, “Sect[ion] II. The History of Subordination.”, in An Essay on the History of Civil Society, Dublin: […] Boulter Grierson, […], →OCLC, 3rd part (Of the History of Policy and Arts), pages 181–182

   RECOURSE; is the right competent to an assignee or disponee, under the warrandice of the transaction, to recur on the vendor or cedent for relief, in case of eviction or of defects inferring warrandice.

   1838, William Bell, “RECOURSE”, in A Dictionary and Digest of the Law of Scotland, […], Edinburgh: John Anderson, […]; Bell & Bradfute, […]; and Saunders & Benning, […], →OCLC, page 827

5. intransitivecomputingSynonym of recurse (“to execute a procedure recursively”).

   Synonyms: recurse

6. intransitivemathematicsOften in the form recurring following a number: of a numeral or group of numerals in a decimal fraction: to repeat indefinitely.

   One-third can be written in decimal form as 0.3333 …, or point three-recurring.

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   CIRCULATING Decimals, or Recurring Decimals, are those that consist of a repetition of a small number of digits, as 646464, &c. 4127127127, &c.; in fact, every decimal that is not finite, is a circulating decimal, or is such, that if continued far enough, the same figures will again recur; but it is only those, of which the periods of circulation consist of a few figures, that receive generally the definition of circulating decimals.

   1814, Peter Barlow, “CIRCULATING Decimals, or Recurring Decimals”, in A New Mathematical and Philosophical Dictionary; […], London: […] Whittingham and Rowland, […]; for G[eorge] and S. Robinson, […], →OCLC, signature M2, recto, column 1

7. intransitiveobsoleteFollowed by into or to: to go to a place again; to return.

   Cycle of the Sun is the revolution of 28 years, Cycle of the Moon the revolution of 19 years, in which time both of their motions recur to the ſame point.

   1658, Edward Phillips, compiler, “Cycle”, in The New World of English Words: Or, A General Dictionary: […], London: […] E. Tyler, for Nath[aniel] Brook […], →OCLC

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   [H]er conſtancy beganne to ſtagger, and her honeſty had enough to doe, recurring to her eyes to containe them, leſt they ſhould giue any demonſtration of the amorous compaſsion vvhich Lotharios vvordes and teares had ſtirred in her breaſt.

   1612, [Miguel de Cervantes], “Wherein is Prosecuted the History of the Curious Impertinent”, in Thomas Shelton, transl., The History of the Valorous and Wittie Knight-errant Don-Quixote of the Mancha. […], London: […] William Stansby, for Ed[ward] Blount and W. Barret, →OCLC, part 1, page 387

   For as in the body natural the amputation and dock of one member forces the bloud and ſpirits that therein reſide vvhen fixed, to recur to the heart, and there to ſuccour it in the abſence of that part, ſo is the body politique, in this ſenſe Intentio ſupplere debet defectum [the intention must supply the deficiency], […]

   1666 October 30 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Edward Waterhous[e], “To His Noble Friend and Kinsman, Sr. Edwarde Turno[u]r, Knight; Speaker of the Honorable House of Commons in this Present Parliament”, in A Short Narrative of the Late Dreadful Fire in London: […], London: […] W. G. for Rich[ard] Thrale […], and James Thrale […], published 1667, →OCLC, page 133

   [H]ovvever vve toil, or vvhereſoever vve vvander, our fatigued vviſhes ſtill recur to home for tranquillity, vve long to die in that ſpot vvhich gave us birth, and in that pleaſing expectation opiate every calamity.

   1760, Oliver Goldsmith, “Letter C. From Lien Chi Altangi to ***, Merchant in Amsterdam.”, in The Citizen of the World; or Letters from a Chinese Philosopher, […], volume II, London: […] [F]or the author; and sold by J. Newbery and W. Bristow, […]; J. Leake and W. Frederick, […]; B. Collins, […]; and A. M. Smart and Co. […], published 1762, →OCLC, page 153

8. intransitiveobsoleteFollowed by into or to: To go back to doing an activity, or to using a thing; to return.

   Mrs Farebrother recurred to her knitting with a dignified satisfaction in her neat little effort at oratory, […]

   1871–1872, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter LIV, in Middlemarch […], volume III, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book VI, page 204

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   I contrived for ſome time to carry on ſomething like a converſation vvith this vvoman, but vvas ſoon glad to put an end to it by recurring to my bottle.

   1796, J[ohn] G[abriel] Stedman, chapter I, in Narrative of a Five Years’ Expedition against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam, in Guiana, on the Wild Coast of South America; […], volume I, London: J[oseph] Johnson, […], and J. Edwards, […], →OCLC, page 20

   After throwing out this pregnant hint, Mr Poyser recurred to his pipe and his silence, looking at Hetty to see if she did not give some sign of having renounced her ill-advised wish.

   1859, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], “In Hetty’s Bed-Chamber”, in Adam Bede […], volume II, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book fourth, page 317

9. intransitiveobsoleterareFollowed by to: to go to a place; to resort.

   [T]he City grevv very populous, many recurring thither from all parts of Attica, for liberty and ſecurity, […]

   1655, Thomas Stanley, “[Solon.] Chap[ter] VI. His Lawes.”, in The History of Philosophy. […], volume I, London: […] Humphrey Moseley, and Thomas Dring, […], →OCLC, 1st part ([Containing Those on whom the Attribute of Wise was Conferr’d]), page 44

10. intransitiveobsoleterareFollowed by from: to move or run back from something; to recede, to withdraw.

    If half the latitude of the firſt vvave be an aliquant part of the ſtring, after the motion has been propagated to the fartheſt extremity, there vvill be a nevv ſeries of leſs vvaves, recurring in a contrary direction.

    1784, Matthew Young, “Sect[ion] I. Of the Motion of an Elastic Fibre.”, in An Enquiry into the Principal Phænomena of Sounds and Musical Strings, Dublin: […] Joseph Hill, […], →OCLC, part II (On Musical Strings), page 76