per-rotatoryadj.
/ˌpəːrə(ʊ)ˈteɪt(ə)ri/, /pəːˈrəʊtət(ə)ri/, U.S. /pəˈroʊdəˌtɔri/ 1. Passing through a series of terms or objects as if arranged in a circle, so that one passes from the last immediately to the first again. rare.
ΚΠ
1864 Proc. Royal Soc. 1863–4 13 182 By per-rotatory circulation is to be understood that species in which commencing with any element of the type, passage is made..from the last to the first, and so on.
1890 Cent. Dict. 4412/1 Perrotatory, passing completely through a series from one member to the next, and then from the last to the first member again.
1986 Biometrika 73 228 Sylvester calls a series of signed symbols perrotatory if it is operated on by (i) cyclic permutations, and (ii) reversals of order.
2. Medicine. Relating to or designating a form of nystagmus that occurs during, and in the direction of, rotation of the body.
ΚΠ
1953 Proc. Royal Soc. B. 141 217 The image of the eye thus provided is stationary, a point of particular advantage for the observation of per-rotatory nystagmus.
1978 Proc. Royal Soc. B. 202 319 The use of this [method], rather than of the perrotatory response, was adopted to permit the measurement to be carried out with the preparation stationary.
1999 Internat. Jrnl. Pediatric Otorhinolaryngol. 49 215 The damped rotation test elicited absence [of] or poor per-rotatory nystagmus and absence of post-rotatory nystagmus in all cases.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1864