recur

verb

1. (intransitive)Of an event, situation, etc.: to appear or happen again, especially repeatedly.

   “The theme of the prodigal son recurs later in the third act.”

   “For it is manifeſt, that all the Arguments that are brought Chap. 2, Sect. 3. vvill recur vvith full force in this place.”

   “But ſtill, the Queſtion recurs, vvhether Man be Free?”

   “All this pressed on his mind; yet the original statement recurred with the same irresistible force.”

   “But the knot of causes recurreth in which I am twined. It will create me again! I myself belong unto the causes of eternal recurrence.”

2. (intransitive)Of an event, situation, etc.: to appear or happen again, especially repeatedly.

   “The bullet had grazed the optic nerve. […] The oculist had warned him that the trouble might recur, that he ought to have remained under observation. Well, it had recurred about four months ago.”

3. (intransitive)Of a memory, thought, etc.: to come to the mind again.

   “The Saturday at night before he ſuffered, he dream'd his chaine vvas brought to the Counter gate, that the next day being Sunday, he ſhould be had to Nevvgate and burned at Smithfield the Munday enſuing, vvhich after many frightfull avvakings, ſtill recurring to his troubled fancy, he aroſe, and communicating vvhat he had dreamed to his Chamber-fellovv, fell to his old exerciſe of reading and praying.”

   “[…] Men that are of a talkative and melancholy temper see any kind of visions. And this, especially because they have so deep a resentment [i.e., impression] of the most affecting objects, whose images therefore recur to the fancy when they are asleep, in most distinct and lively figures.”

   “[T]he Idea I have once had vvill be unchangeably the ſame as long as it recurs the ſame in my Memory; but vvhen another different from that comes into my Mind, it vvill not be that.”

   “Zan[ga]. Carry you Goodneſs then to ſuch Extreme, / So blinded to the Faults of him you love, / That you perceive not he is jealous? / Leon[ora]. Heav'ns! / And yet a Thouſand Things recur that ſvvear it.”

   “Though Jones had never ſeen Mrs. Fitzpatrick, yet he had heard that a Couſin of Sophia vvas married to a Gentleman of that Name. This, hovvever, in the present Tumult of his Mind, never once recurred to his Memory: […]”

4. (dated, intransitive)To speak, think, or write about something again; to go back or return to a memory, a subject, etc.

   “But firſt I ſhall recurre, and give a touch upon the nature of Gravity.”

   “But before vve proceed to vvhat paſſed on his Arrival in the Kitchin, it vvill be neceſſary to recur to vvhat had there happened ſince Partridge had firſt left it on his Maſter's Summons.”

   “Again am I recurring to a ſubject I vviſh to quit. But ſince I cannot, I vvill give my pen its courſe—Pen, take thy courſe.”

   “He was in high spirits; as ready to talk and laugh as ever, and seemed delighted to speak of his former visit, and recur to old stories: and he was not without agitation.”

   “I returned home, not disappointed, for I have said that I had long considered those authors useless whom the professor reprobated; but I returned, not at all the more inclined to recur to these studies in any shape.”

5. (archaic, intransitive)Followed by to, or (Scotland, obsolete) on or upon: to have recourse to someone or something for assistance, support, etc.; to appeal, to resort, to turn to.

   “[I]f his Grace vvere minded, or vvould intend to do a thing inique or injuſt, there vvere no need to recurr unto the Pope's Holineſe for doing thereof.”

   “And surely here I admire the goodnes of God towards our Nation, that he would Saint Austin [Augustine of Hippo] should enquire such small matters of S. Gregory, and that his questions should remaine to our dayes, both to shew vs by our first Apostle what account we should make of the resolution of the Sea Apostolick, and […] in all difficulties recur to her, […]”

   “Others have been ſo blind in deducing the originall of things, or delivering their ovvne beginnings, that vvhen it hath fallen into controverſie they have not recurred unto Chronologie or the records of time, but betaken themſelves unto probabilities, and the conjecturalities of Philoſophy.”

   “If to avoid Succeſſion in eternal Exiſtence, they recur to the Punctum Stans [standing point] of the Schools, I ſuppoſe they vvill thereby very little mend the matter, or help us to a more clear and poſitive Idea of infinite Duration, there being nothing more inconceivable to me, than Duration vvithout Succeſſion.”

   “The barbarian […] acts from affections unacquainted vvith forms; and vvhen provoked, or vvhen engaged in diſputes, he recurs to the ſvvord, as the ultimate means of deciſion, in all queſtions of right.”

6. (intransitive)Synonym of recurse (“to execute a procedure recursively”).
7. (intransitive)Often in the form recurring following a number: of a numeral or group of numerals in a decimal fraction: to repeat indefinitely.

   “One-third can be written in decimal form as 0.3333 …, or point three-recurring.”

   “CIRCULATING Decimals, or Recurring Decimals, are those that consist of a repetition of a small number of digits, as 646464, &c. 4127127127, &c.; in fact, every decimal that is not finite, is a circulating decimal, or is such, that if continued far enough, the same figures will again recur; but it is only those, of which the periods of circulation consist of a few figures, that receive generally the definition of circulating decimals.”

8. (intransitive, obsolete)Followed by into or to: to go to a place again; to return.

   “[H]er conſtancy beganne to ſtagger, and her honeſty had enough to doe, recurring to her eyes to containe them, leſt they ſhould giue any demonſtration of the amorous compaſsion vvhich Lotharios vvordes and teares had ſtirred in her breaſt.”

   “Cycle of the Sun is the revolution of 28 years, Cycle of the Moon the revolution of 19 years, in which time both of their motions recur to the ſame point.”

   “For as in the body natural the amputation and dock of one member forces the bloud and ſpirits that therein reſide vvhen fixed, to recur to the heart, and there to ſuccour it in the abſence of that part, ſo is the body politique, in this ſenſe Intentio ſupplere debet defectum [the intention must supply the deficiency], […]”

   “[H]ovvever vve toil, or vvhereſoever vve vvander, our fatigued vviſhes ſtill recur to home for tranquillity, vve long to die in that ſpot vvhich gave us birth, and in that pleaſing expectation opiate every calamity.”

9. (intransitive, obsolete)Followed by into or to: To go back to doing an activity, or to using a thing; to return.

   “I contrived for ſome time to carry on ſomething like a converſation vvith this vvoman, but vvas ſoon glad to put an end to it by recurring to my bottle.”

   “After throwing out this pregnant hint, Mr Poyser recurred to his pipe and his silence, looking at Hetty to see if she did not give some sign of having renounced her ill-advised wish.”

   “Mrs Farebrother recurred to her knitting with a dignified satisfaction in her neat little effort at oratory, […]”

10. (intransitive, obsolete, rare)Followed by to: to go to a place; to resort.

    “[T]he City grevv very populous, many recurring thither from all parts of Attica, for liberty and ſecurity, […]”

11. (intransitive, obsolete, rare)Followed by from: to move or run back from something; to recede, to withdraw.

    “If half the latitude of the firſt vvave be an aliquant part of the ſtring, after the motion has been propagated to the fartheſt extremity, there vvill be a nevv ſeries of leſs vvaves, recurring in a contrary direction.”