Reciprocate \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.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)