"altern" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "alternen",
        "4": "",
        "5": "to vary, alternate"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English alternen (“to vary, alternate”)",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "alternō"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin alternō",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "",
      "name": "lena"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Middle English alternen (“to vary, alternate”), borrowed from Latin alternō.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "altern (not comparable)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 3 entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "derived": [
        {
          "word": "altern base"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1667, John Milton, “Book CLXXXIX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 346-352:",
          "text": "And God made two great lights, great for thir use / To Man, the greater to have rule by day, / The less by night, alterne ; and made the stars, / And set them in the firmament of Heaven / To illuminate the Earth, and rule the day / In their vicissitude, and rule the night, / And light from darkness to divide. […]",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Acting by turns; alternate."
      ],
      "id": "en-altern-en-adj-6TGZQSw0",
      "links": [
        [
          "alternate",
          "alternate"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(obsolete) Acting by turns; alternate."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "not-comparable",
        "obsolete"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "altern"
}

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "altern base"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "alternen",
        "4": "",
        "5": "to vary, alternate"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English alternen (“to vary, alternate”)",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "alternō"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin alternō",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "",
      "name": "lena"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Middle English alternen (“to vary, alternate”), borrowed from Latin alternō.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "altern (not comparable)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English adjectives",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English terms derived from Latin",
        "English terms derived from Middle English",
        "English terms inherited from Middle English",
        "English terms with obsolete senses",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English uncomparable adjectives",
        "Pages with 3 entries",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Requests for attention in Latin etymologies"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1667, John Milton, “Book CLXXXIX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 346-352:",
          "text": "And God made two great lights, great for thir use / To Man, the greater to have rule by day, / The less by night, alterne ; and made the stars, / And set them in the firmament of Heaven / To illuminate the Earth, and rule the day / In their vicissitude, and rule the night, / And light from darkness to divide. […]",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Acting by turns; alternate."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "alternate",
          "alternate"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(obsolete) Acting by turns; alternate."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "not-comparable",
        "obsolete"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "altern"
}