Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
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noun
The act of turning or whirling, especially around a fixed axis or centre; a circular or spiral motion; rotation.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: also, countable, figuratively, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: circumvolution, spinning, wheeling
Antonyms: none provided
noun
The act of turning or whirling, especially around a fixed axis or centre; a circular or spiral motion; rotation.
A rotation around an axis which is not the centre of rotational symmetry; an eccentric or off-centre rotation.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: also, countable, figuratively, specifically, uncountable
Qualifier: Euclidean geometry
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: circumvolution, spinning, wheeling
Antonyms: none provided
noun
One of the whorls of a spiral univalve shell.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable
Topics: biology, conchology, natural-sciences, zoology
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
The arrangement of convolutions of gyri in the cerebral cortex of the brain.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
Topics: medicine, neurology, neuroscience, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
the act of rotating in a circle or spiral
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: whirling
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: rotation, rotary motion
noun
a single complete turn (axial or orbital)
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: rotation, revolution
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: turning, turn
Narrower terms: dextrorotation, clockwise rotation, levorotation, counterclockwise rotation, axial rotation, axial motion, roll, orbital rotation, orbital motion, spin
History
From gyre (“to spin around; to gyrate, to whirl; (rare) to make (something) spin or whirl around; to spin, to whirl”) + -ation (suffix indicating actions or processes). Gyre is from Late Middle English giren (“to turn (something) away; to cause (something) to revolve or rotate; to travel in a circle”), from Old French girer (“to turn”), and directly from its etymon Latin gȳrāre, the present active infinitive of gȳrō (“to turn in a circle, rotate; to circle or revolve around”) (from gȳrus (“circle; circular motion; circuit, course”), from Ancient Greek γῦρος (gûros, “a circle, a ring”), from Proto-Indo-European *gew- (“to bend; to curve”)) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs).
Across languages
12 source translations are retained for this English entry.
