‖n. [ It. ] (Mus.) Basso continuo, or continued bass. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

he can hear its continuous murmur. Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Bot.) Not deviating or varying from uninformity; not interrupted; not joined or articulated. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a continuous maner; without interruption. -- Con*tin"u*ous*ness, n. [1913 Webster]

n. (Law) One who deprives another of the possession of an estate by discontinuance. See Discontinuance, 2. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Not continuous; interrupted; broken off. [ 1913 Webster ]

A path that is zigzag, discontinuous, and intersected at every turn by human negligence. De Quincey. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Exhibiting a dissolution of continuity; gaping. “Discontinuous wound.” Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Discontinuous function (Math.), a function which for certain values or between certain values of the variable does not vary continuously as the variable increases. The discontinuity may, for example, consist of an abrupt change in the value of the function, or an abrupt change in its law of variation, or the function may become imaginary. [ 1913 Webster ]