Re*cip"ro*cate (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Reciprocated (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Reciprocating.] [L. reciprocatus, p. p. of reciprocare. See Reciprocal.] To move forward and backward alternately; to recur in vicissitude; to act interchangeably; to alternate.
One brawny smith the puffing bellows plies,
And draws and blows reciprocating air.
Dryden.
Reciprocating engine, a steam, air, or gas engine, etc., in which the piston moves back and forth; -- in distinction from a rotary engine, in which the piston travels continuously in one direction in a circular path. -- Reciprocating motion Mech., motion alternately backward and forward, or up and down, as of a piston rod.
© Webster 1913.
Re*cip"ro*cate, v. t. To give and return mutually; to make return for; to give in return; to unterchange; to alternate; as, to reciprocate favors.
Cowper.
© Webster 1913. | 
