Con*tin"u*ous (?), a.
[L. continuus, fr. continere to hold together. See Continent.]
1. Without break, cessation, or interruption; without
intervening space or time; uninterrupted; unbroken;
continual; unceasing; constant; continued; protracted; extended; as, a continuous line of railroad; a continuous current of electricity.
he can hear its continuous murmur.
Longfellow.
2. (Bot.) Not deviating or varying from uninformity; not interrupted; not joined or articulated.
Continuous brake (Railroad),
a brake which is attached to each car a train, and can be caused to
operate in all the cars simultaneously from a point
on any car or on the engine. -- Continuous impost.
See Impost.
Syn. -- Continuous, Continual. Continuous is the stronger word, and denotes that the continuity or union of
parts is absolute and uninterrupted; as, a continuous sheet of ice;
a continuous flow of water
or of argument. So Daniel Webster speaks of "a continuous and unbroken strain of the martial airs of England." Continual, in most cases, marks a close and unbroken succession of things, rather than absolute continuity. Thus we speak of
continual showers, implying a repetition with occasional
interruptions; we speak of a person as liable to
continual calls, or as subject
to continual
applications for aid, etc. See Constant.
Hear it pronounced