interpolate

Etymology

From Latin interpolare, Latin interpolatum, from inter (“between”) and polire (“to polish”).

verb

  1. (transitive, intransitive) To introduce (something) between other things; especially to insert (possibly spurious) words into a text.
    in verse 74, the second line is clearly interpolated, probably by some unknown medieval scribe
    When interpolating an explanatory gloss, please enclose it in square brackets to make clear that it is interpolated.
  2. (mathematics) To estimate the value of a function between two tabulated points.
  3. (computing) During the course of processing some data, and in response to a directive in that data, to fetch data from a different source and process it in-line along with the original data.
    A macro is invoked in the same way as a request; a control line beginning .xx will interpolate the contents of macro xx. 2007, Joseph F. Ossanna, Nroff/Troff User's manual
    In Perl, variable interpolation happens in double-quoted strings and patterns, and list interpolation occurs when constructing the list of values to pass to a list operator or other such construct that takes a LIST. 2000, Wall, Christiansen, Jon Orwant, Programming Perl, 3rd edition, page 992

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