1821 J. Banim & R. L. Sheil Damon & Pythias iv. i. 47 Never shall he return, if there be power In this quick hand to cast an intercept Between him and perdition.

1954 in Webster's New Internat. Dict. Eng. Lang. Add.

1960 T. McLean Kings of Rugby xi. 143 Meredith made an intercept.

1864 in Webster's Amer. Dict. Eng. Lang.

1878 H. P. Gurney Crystallogr. 18 The lengths..which are cut off by the plane..from the axes are called its intercepts.

1882 C. Smith Conic Sect. (1885) 15 To find the equation of a straight line in terms of the intercepts which it makes on the axes.

1901 J. R. Walker Explan. Method Obtaining Position at Sea 15 Let the difference between the calculated and observed zenith distance be k miles nearer (say) at the first observation and l miles further at the second. Let the extremities of these intercepts be A and B.

1939 Geogr. Jrnl. 94 254 Nowadays the best way of obtaining latitude and longitude with a theodolite is the quadrantal and intercept method.

1969 G. Richards Sextant Observ. iii. 92 The difference in value between the true altitude and the tabulated altitude is the intercept, and it can be ‘Towards’ (the body) or ‘Away’ (from the body).

1942 Sun (Baltimore) 10 Dec. 1/3 Distributing these copied excerpts to Government departments and officials who might have an interest in such ‘intercepts’, as they are called.

1945 Sun (Baltimore) 30 Nov. 3 In the War Department..the intercepts were shown only to Secretary Henry L. Stimson, [etc.].

1958 Manch. Guardian 13 Jan. 4 The ‘intercepts’ (transcripts of recordings obtained by wire-tapping)..were used as evidence in the hearing.

1967 ‘W. Haggard’ Conspirators xii. 123 We can't monitor every wavelength round the clock..but we've picked up one or two intercepts between Kaunas and this diplomat.

1972 R. Ludlum Osterman Weekend i. 32 Intercepts have been placed on all telephones.

1973 N.Y. Times 22 June 35 Given torrents of intercepts..cryptanalysts could not reach a solution for thousands of years.

?a1560 L. Digges Geom. Pract.: Pantometria (1571) i. xxxi. sig. K j I fynde 10 partes in my scale of altitudes, intercepted with the perpendicular lyne.

1647 W. Lilly Christian Astrol. iv. 37 I conclude that the Signe ♈ is intercepted; for so we say when a Signe is not upon any of the cuspes of Houses, but is included betwixt one House and another.

1677 W. Harris tr. N. Lémery Course Chym. i. xvi. 190 The Pores of Silver being very near one another, and of a much greater number, do intercept less solid matter, and consequently it must be lighter.

1772 J. Adams tr. A. de Ulloa Voy. S. Amer. (ed. 3) I. 14 The number of degrees intercepted between the magnetic and true north of the world.

1793 J. Smeaton Narr. Edystone Lighthouse (ed. 2) 184 The whole time intercepted betwixt the first stroke upon the Rock, and leaving the Lighthouse compleat, was 3 years, 9 weeks, 3 days.

1827 O. Gregory Hutton's Course Math. (ed. 9) I. 317 Any two parallel chords intercept equal arcs.

1662 H. More Coll. Several Philos. Writings (ed. 2) Pref. Gen. 13 There being other properties in Body that intercepted from it the capacity of perceiving.

1697 W. Dampier New Voy. around World xvii. 478 These Bays are intercepted, or divided from each other, with as many little rocky points of Woodland.

1700 J. Dryden Flower & Leaf in Fables 391 Thick as the College of the Bees in May, When swarming o'er the dusky Fields they fly..and intercept the Sky.

1765 L. Sterne Life Tristram Shandy VII. xli. 143 When I saw the gate which intercepted the tomb, my heart glowed within me.

1814 T. Chalmers Posthumous Wks. (1849) VI. 197 The glass which now intercepts from the eye of the mind the realities of the future world.