circle : Idioms & Phrases


Addendum circle

  • (Mech.), the circle which may be described around a circular spur wheel or gear wheel, touching the crests or tips of the teeth.
Webster 1913

antarctic circle

  • noun a line of latitude north of the south pole
WordNet

arctic circle

  • noun a line of latitude near but to the south of the north pole; it marks the northernmost point at which the sun is visible on the northern winter solstice and the southernmost point at which the midnight sun can be seen on the northern summer solstice
WordNet

Axis of the equator, ecliptic, horizon (or other circle considered with reference to the sphere on which it lies)

  • the diameter of the sphere which is perpendicular to the plane of the circle. Hutton.
Webster 1913

Azimuth circle

  • . See under Azimuth.
Webster 1913

Azimuth circle, or Vertical circle

  • one of the great circles of the sphere intersecting each other in the zenith and nadir, and cutting the horizon at right angles. Hutton.
Webster 1913

back circle

  • noun a feat in which an acrobat arches the back from a prone position and bends the knees until the toes touch the head
WordNet

circle around

  • verb move around in a circular motion
    revolve around; circle around.
    • The Earth revolves around the Sun
WordNet

Circle of altitude

  • (Astron.), a circle parallel to the horizon, having its pole in the zenith; an almucantar.
Webster 1913

Circle of curvature

  • noun the circle that touches a curve (on the concave side) and whose radius is the radius of curvature
    circle of curvature.
WordNet
  • . See Osculating circle of a curve (Below).
  • . See Osculating circle of a curve, under Circle.
Webster 1913

Circle of declination

  • . See under Declination.
Webster 1913

Circle of latitude

  • . (a) (Astron.) A great circle perpendicular to the plane of the ecliptic, passing through its poles. (b) (Spherical Projection) A small circle of the sphere whose plane is perpendicular to the axis.
Webster 1913

Circle of perpetual apparition

  • at any given place, the boundary of that space around the elevated pole, within which the stars never set. Its distance from the pole is equal to the latitude of the place.
Webster 1913

Circle of perpetual occultation

  • at any given place, the boundary of the space around the depressed pole, within which the stars never rise.
Webster 1913

Circle of the sphere

  • a circle upon the surface of the sphere, called a great circle when its plane passes through the center of the sphere; in all other cases, a small circle.
Webster 1913

circle of willis

  • noun a ring of arteries at the base of the brain
WordNet

circle round

  • verb move around in a circular motion
    revolve around; circle around.
    • The Earth revolves around the Sun
WordNet

Circles of longitude

  • lesser circles parallel to the ecliptic, diminishing as they recede from it.
Webster 1913

color circle

  • noun a chart in which complementary colors (or their names) are arranged on opposite sides of a circle
    color wheel.
WordNet

dip circle

  • noun a measuring instrument for measuring the angle of magnetic dip (as from an airplane)
    inclinometer.
WordNet

Diurnal circle

  • the apparent circle described by a celestial body in consequence of the earth's rotation.
Webster 1913

double leg circle

  • noun a gymnastic exercise performed on the pommel horse when the gymnast (with legs together) swings his legs in a circle while alternating hands on the pommels
WordNet

Dress circle

  • noun a curved section or tier of seats in a hall or theater or opera house; usually the first tier above the orchestra
    circle.
    • they had excellent seats in the dress circle
WordNet
  • a gallery in a theater, generally the one containing the prominent and more expensive seats.
Webster 1913

Druidical circles

  • (Eng. Antiq.), a popular name for certain ancient inclosures formed by rude stones circularly arranged, as at Stonehenge, near Salisbury.
Webster 1913

equinoctial circle

  • noun the great circle on the celestial sphere midway between the celestial poles
    celestial equator; equinoctial line; equinoctial.
WordNet

Fairy rings ∨ circles

  • the circles formed in grassy lawns by certain fungi (as Marasmius Oreades), formerly supposed to be caused by fairies in their midnight dances.
Webster 1913

fairy circle

  • noun a ring of fungi marking the periphery of the perennial underground growth of the mycelium
    fairy ring.
WordNet

Family circle

  • noun rearmost or uppermost area in the balcony containing the least expensive seats
    upper balcony; peanut gallery; second balcony.
WordNet
  • a gallery in a theater, usually one containing inexpensive seats.
Webster 1913

Galactic circle

  • (Astron.), the great circle of the heavens, to which the course of the galaxy most nearly conforms. Herschel.
Webster 1913

Galvanic circuit ∨ circle

  • . (Elec.) See under Circuit.
Webster 1913

Gorge circle

  • (Gearing), the outline of the smallest cross section of a hyperboloid of revolution.
Webster 1913

grand circle

  • noun a gymnastic exercise performed on the horizontal bar by swinging around it with the body fully extended
WordNet

great circle

  • noun a circular line on the surface of a sphere formed by intersecting it with a plane passing through the center
WordNet

Great circle of a sphere

  • a circle the plane of which passes through the center of the sphere.
Webster 1913

Great circle sailing

  • the process or art of conducting a ship on a great circle of the globe or on the shortest arc between two places.
Webster 1913

Horary circles

  • (Dialing), the lines on dials which show the hours.
  • . See Circles.
Webster 1913

Hour circle

  • noun a great circle on the celestial sphere that passes through both celestial poles
WordNet
  • . (Astron.) (a) Any circle of the sphere passing through the two poles of the equator; esp., one of the circles drawn on an artificial globe through the poles, and dividing the equator into spaces of 15°, or one hour, each. (b) A circle upon an equatorial telescope lying parallel to the plane of the earth's equator, and graduated in hours and subdivisions of hours of right ascension. (c) A small brass circle attached to the north pole of an artificial globe, and divided into twenty-four parts or hours. It is used to mark differences of time in working problems on the globe.
Webster 1913

in circles

  • adverb without making progress
    • the candidates talked in circles
WordNet

inner circle

  • noun an exclusive circle of people with a common purpose
    coterie; camp; ingroup; clique; pack.
WordNet

Magic circle

  • a series of concentric circles containing the numbers 12 to 75 in eight radii, and having somewhat similar properties to the magic square.
Webster 1913

Meridian circle

  • (Astron.), an instrument consisting of a telescope attached to a large graduated circle and so mounted that the telescope revolves like the transit instrument in a meridian plane. By it the right ascension and the declination of a star may be measured in a single observation.
Webster 1913

Mural circle

  • (Astron.), a graduated circle, in the plane of the meridian, attached permanently to a perpendicular wall; used for measuring arcs of the meridian. See Circle, n., 3.
Webster 1913

Nine points circle

  • (Geom.), a circle so related to any given triangle as to pass through the three points in which the perpendiculars from the angles of the triangle upon the opposite sides (or the sides produced) meet the sides. It also passes through the three middle points of the sides of the triangle and through the three middle points of those parts of the perpendiculars that are between their common point of meeting and the angles of the triangle. The circle is hence called the nine points ∨ six points circle.
Webster 1913

Oblique circle

  • (Projection), a circle whose plane is oblique to the axis of the primitive plane.
Webster 1913

Optical circle

  • (Opt.), a graduated circle used for the measurement of angles in optical experiments.
Webster 1913

Orthotomic circle

  • (Geom.), that circle which cuts three given circles at right angles.
Webster 1913

osculating circle

  • noun the circle that touches a curve (on the concave side) and whose radius is the radius of curvature
    circle of curvature.
WordNet

Osculating circle of a curve

  • (Geom.), the circle which touches the curve at some point in the curve, and close to the point more nearly coincides with the curve than any other circle. This circle is used as a measure of the curvature of the curve at the point, and hence is called circle of curvature.
Webster 1913

Osculatory circle

  • . (Geom.) See Osculating circle of a curve, under Circle.
Webster 1913

Parallel circles of a sphere

  • those circles of the sphere whose planes are parallel to each other.
Webster 1913

parhelic circle

  • noun a luminous halo parallel to the horizon at the altitude of the sun; caused by ice crystals in the atmosphere
    parhelic ring; solar halo.
WordNet

parquet circle

  • noun seating at the rear of the main floor (beneath the balconies)
    parterre.
WordNet

Pitch circle

  • . See under Pitch.
Webster 1913

Pitch line, ∨ Pitch circle

  • (Gearing), an ideal line, in a toothed gear or rack, bearing such a relation to a corresponding line in another gear, with which the former works, that the two lines will have a common velocity as in rolling contact; it usually cuts the teeth at about the middle of their height, and, in a circular gear, is a circle concentric with the axis of the gear; the line, or circle, on which the pitch of teeth is measured.
Webster 1913

polar circle

  • noun a line of latitude at the north or south poles
    polar circle.
WordNet

Polar circles

  • noun a line of latitude at the north or south poles
    polar circle.
WordNet
  • (Astron. & Geog.), two circles, each at a distance from a pole of the earth equal to the obliquity of the ecliptic, or about 23° 28', the northern called the arctic circle, and the southern the antarctic circle.
Webster 1913

Primitive circle

  • (Spherical Projection), the circle cut from the sphere to be projected, by the primitive plane.
Webster 1913

quarter-circle

  • noun a quarter of the circumference of a circle
    quadrant.
WordNet

Radical axis of two circles

  • (Geom.), the straight line perpendicular to the line joining their centers and such that the tangents from any point of it to the two circles shall be equal to each other.
Webster 1913

Reflecting circle

  • an astronomical instrument for measuring angless, like the sextant or Hadley's quadrant, by the reflection of light from two plane mirrors which it carries, and differing from the sextant chiefly in having an entire circle.
Webster 1913

Refraction circle

  • (Opt.), an instrument provided with a graduated circle for the measurement of refraction.
Webster 1913

Repeating circle

  • . See the Note under Circle, n., 3.
Webster 1913

Rolling circle of a paddle wheel

  • the circle described by the point whose velocity equals the velocity of the ship. J. Bourne.
Webster 1913

Secondary circle

  • (Geom. & Astron.), a great circle passes through the poles of another great circle and is therefore perpendicular to its plane.
Webster 1913

Six points circle

  • . (Geom.) See Nine points circle, under Nine.
Webster 1913

To circle in

  • to confine; to hem in; to keep together; as, to circle bodies in.
Webster 1913

To square the circle

  • (Math.), to determine the exact contents of a circle in square measure. The solution of this famous problem is now generally admitted to be impossible.
Webster 1913

To swing round the circle

  • to make a complete circuit. Colloq.
Webster 1913

traffic circle

  • noun a road junction at which traffic streams circularly around a central island
    circle; rotary; roundabout.
    • the accident blocked all traffic at the rotary
WordNet

Transit circle

  • (Astron.), a transit instrument with a graduated circle attached, used for observing the time of transit and the declination at one observation. See Circle, n., 3.
Webster 1913

Vertical circle

  • noun a great circle on the celestial sphere passing through the zenith and perpendicular to the horizon
WordNet
  • an azimuth circle.
Webster 1913

vicious circle

  • noun one trouble leads to another that aggravates the first
    vicious cycle.
  • noun an argument that assumes that which is to be proved
WordNet

Voltaic or Galvanic circuit or circle

  • a continous electrical communication between the two poles of a battery; an arrangement of voltaic elements or couples with proper conductors, by which a continuous current of electricity is established.
Webster 1913

Voltaic circle or circuit

  • . See under Circuit.
Webster 1913

winner's circle

  • noun a small area at a racecourse where awards are given to the owners of winning horses
WordNet