circularadj.n.
/ˈsəːkjʊlə/ A. adj.† 2. transferred. Perfect, full, complete. Obsolete.
1. Of the form of a circle; round in superficies.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > curvature > roundness > [adjective] > circular
trendledc1220
circle-likea1420
circular1430
compass?1523
compassed1551
circled1578
circuled1582
orbal1603
circulary1610
wheely1708
spherical1730
encircular1806
sphered1820
wheeled1820
moony1836
wheel-shaped1895
1430 J. Lydgate tr. Hist. Troy ii. xi A smale aulter..that was halfe circuler.
?1541 R. Copland Galen's Fourth Bk. Terapeutyke sig. Fiv, in Guy de Chauliac's Questyonary Cyrurgyens The vlcere that are cyrculer and rounde.
1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene ii. ix. sig. V6 The frame thereof seemd partly circulare, And part triangulare.
1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 1. ¶5 A Round of Politicians at Will's..those little Circular Audiences.
1833 J. F. W. Herschel Astronomy vi. 224 A body which always casts a circular shadow must itself be spherical.
1867 J. H. Parker Introd. Study Gothic Archit. (ed. 3) i. 3 Circular churches were occasionally used from an early period.
ΚΠ
1618 G. Chapman in tr. Hesiod Georgicks Ep. Ded. sig. A2v Nor were those Greeks so circular in their elegant utterance, but their inward judgments and learnings were as round and solid.
?1624 G. Chapman tr. Hymn to Hermes in tr. Crowne Homers Wks. 82 Nor must you..Boile in your Gall, a Grudge too circulare.
1632 P. Massinger Emperour of East iii. ii. sig. F2 In this, sister, Your wisdome is not circular.
1659 J. Dryden Heroique Stanza's v, in E. Waller et al. Three Poems 2 How shall I then begin, or where conclude To draw a Fame so truly Circular? For in a round, what Order can be shew'd, Where all the Parts so equall perfect are?
3.
a. Moving in or passing over a circle; orbitual; describing a circle.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > movement in circle or curve > [adjective] > moving in circle
circularc1450
round1565
circumfluent1583
circling1599
circumferential1610
circumferent1620
circulating1632
compassing1638
circuline1647
circumambient1648
ambient1655
surrounding1657
gyrous1688
rounding1708
whirl-about1786
circumgyratory1835
gyrant1844
circuiting1886
roundwisea1930
c1450 Epiph. in Tundale's Vis. (1843) 103 As Phebus went by mevyng circulere.
1584 King James VI & I Ess. Prentise Poesie sig. Dij Into a circuler dance.
1625 N. Carpenter Geogr. Delineated i. iv. 76 It is probable that the terrestriall Globe hath a circular motion.
1871 B. Jowett tr. Plato Dialogues II. 572 Like the circular motion of a wheel.
b. circular tour: one which is completed at (or near) the place of starting; circular ticket, one serving for all the stages of such a tour.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > aspects of travel > a journey > [noun] > tour > types of
the tour1642
grand tour1678
circular tour1860
swing1860
tourette1881
voyage of discovery1890
roundabout1894
Cook's tour1902
conducted1907
conducted tour1907
book tour1939
tour d'horizon1952
1860 Advt. Circular tour of Loch Lomond and the Trosachs, returning from Stirling or Edinburgh.
1873 Cook's Excursionist No. 5 June Through-tickets, semi-circular tickets, and circular tourist tickets.
4. figurative.
a. Moving or occurring in a round or cycle of repetition.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > frequency > [adjective] > repeated or recurring > occurring in a cycle of repetition
circulara1643
a1643 G. Sandys Paraphr. Job 12 (T.) The life of man is a perpetual war, In misery and sorrow circular.
1646 R. Crashaw Steps to Temple 33 When weake Time shall be pour'd out Into Eternity, and circular joyes Dance in an endlesse round.
a1684 Earl of Roscommon in Poems (1717) 67 From whence th' innumerable Race of things, By circular successive Order springs.
b. Forming a link in a circular chain.
ΚΠ
1841 R. W. Emerson Circles in Ess. 1st Ser. (London ed.) 303 The circular or compensatory character of every human action.
c. circular insanity [translating French folie circulaire (J. Falret père 1854, in Bull. de l'Acad. de Méd. XIX. 383)] : a mental disease characterized by alternating phases of elation and depression; manic-depressive psychosis; = cyclothymia n. at cyclo- comb. form 1.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > degree or type of mental illness > [noun] > mania > manic depression
circular insanity1862
manic depression1911
cyclothymia1921
bipolar disorder1973
1862 J. H. Worthington tr. J. Falret in Amer. Jrnl. Insanity 18 382 The mental disorder described by my father under the name of circular insanity..consists in a regular alternation of a condition of melancholic depression with a state of maniacal excitement.
1897 W. James Will to Believe 34 In what is called ‘circular insanity’, phases of melancholy succeed phases of mania.
1962 D. K. Henderson & R. D. Gillespie Text-bk. Psychiatry (ed. 9) x. 208 Kraepelin..in 1896..formulated his conception of the manic-depressive psychosis. In this group he included..periodic and circular insanity.
5. Of the nature of arguing or reasoning in a circle.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > reason, faculty of reasoning > lack of reasoning, illogicality > [adjective] > circular
circulatory1597
circulary1610
circular?1637
tautologicala1856
?1637 T. Hobbes tr. Aristotle Briefe Art Rhetorique i. ix. 36 To praise the Worke from the Vertue of the Worker, is a circular Proofe.
1646 G. Gillespie Malè Audis 50 Mr. Coleman..chargeth me with a circular argumentation.
1699 T. Baker Refl. Learning v. 60 One of his [Carte's] first Principles of reasoning..seems to be too circular to be safely built upon; for he is for proving the Being of God from the truth of our Faculties, and the truth of our Faculties from the being of a God.
1947 Partisan Rev. 14 372 Definition of a civilization in terms of the intelligible field of study is deceptive. The process is circular and tautological.
1969 Eng. Stud. 50 259 To say that the character must be uninvolved in the aspect of the plot on which he comments and emotionally free from entanglements with the characters he discusses..is really a circular argument: if he were not the spectator would have ironic reservations, and might not find the conclusions acceptable.
6. Circuitous, roundabout, indirect.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > hiding, concealing from view > keeping from knowledge > indirect action or process > [adjective]
collateralc1374
ambagious?1532
indirect1584
circular1617
squint1619
squinting1648
sidelong1654
circumferentiala1661
circuitous1664
side wind1672
side-winded1696
roundabout1701
side-handed1828
1617 T. Middleton & W. Rowley Faire Quarrell ii. sig. D4 If you knew well my heart, you would not bee So circuler.
1865 C. Dickens Our Mutual Friend II. iii. i. 9 You circular old dodger.
7. = cyclic adj. Obsolete. rare.
ΚΠ
1712 J. Dennis Ess. Shakespear i. 11 Had Virgil been a circular Poet, and closely adhered to History, how could the Romans have been transported with..Dido?
8. Affecting or relating to a circle or number of persons; esp. in circular letter, ‘a letter directed to several persons, who have the same interest in some common affair’ (Johnson); circular note (a) = circular letter at sense A. 8; (b) a letter of credit addressed by a banker (e.g. in London) to several bankers in other countries, in favour of a certain person named therein, usually a person on a tour.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > correspondence > letter > [noun] > letter intended for many recipients
fire briefa1643
circular letter1659
circulatory letter1668
circular1818
omnibus letter1861
round robin1871
chain letter1906
form letter1909
the world > relative properties > kind or sort > generality > [adjective] > general or in common to various things > affecting or relating to a number of persons
circulary1610
circular1659
society > trade and finance > management of money > solvency > [noun] > credit documents
precept1473
bill of credit1616
letter of credit1616
security1712
shop note1720
paper credit1725
shop-ticket1777
credit letter1843
circular note1850
book1863
1659 B. Walton Considerator Considered 192 Their chief Priest..sends circular letters to the rest about their solemn feasts.
1687 R. L'Estrange Answer to Let. to Dissenter 29 And never any Letter perhaps, was more Universally Circular, then This has been.
1776 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall I. xii. 246 Circular epistles were sent..to all the principal cities.
1825 M. M. Sherwood Lady of Manor (ed. 2) I. v. 145 An old lady..came from a distant part of the county to pay a circular visit among her relations.
1827 H. Hallam Constit. Hist. Eng. II. xiv. 421 The country gentlemen..were tried with circular questions, whether they would comply with the king in their elections.
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 225 Circular letters, imploring them to sign, were sent to every corner of the kingdom.
1850 W. M. Thackeray Kickleburys in Wks. (1869) 188 My lady K. walked over to the money changers, where she changed a couple of circular notes.
1879 F. W. Farrar Life & Work St. Paul II. x. xlviii. 438 The circular Epistle which is generally known as the Epistle to the Ephesians.
9. Mathematics. Of or pertaining to the circle, or its mathematical properties; as in circular arc, circular cubic, circular error, circular function, circular measure; circular line (a) see quot. 1796; (b) the imaginary straight line joining the centre of any circle to either of the two circular points at infinity, and forming a tangent to the circle. circular parts (of Napier), ‘five parts of a right-angled or a quadrantal spherical triangle; they are the two legs, the complement of the hypothenuse, and the complements of the two oblique angles’ (Hutton Math. Dict.); circular points, the two imaginary points at infinity through which all circles pass, also called focoids.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > geometry > shape or figure > [adjective] > two-dimensional > circular
circulara1627
a1627 T. Middleton & W. Rowley Old Law (1656) v. 62 All studdies as are, are but as circular lines And death the center where they must all meet.
1796 C. Hutton Math. & Philos. Dict. (new ed.) I. 289/1 Circular lines, a name given by some authors to such straight lines as are divided by means of the divisions made in the arch of a circle. Such as the Sines, Tangents, Secants, etc.
1859 I. Todhunter Sph. Trigonom. (1871) v. §66. 35 Two rules, which are called, from their inventor, Napier's Rules of Circular Parts.
1874 I. Todhunter Trigonom. ii. §20. 10 The fraction arc divided by radius is called the circular measure of an angle.
1878 J. Wolstenholme Math. Probl. (ed. 2) 248 The two impossible circular points at infinity.
1884 B. Williamson Elem. Treat. Differential Calculus (ed. 5) xii. §186 This curve is called a circular cubic.
1884 B. Williamson Elem. Treat. Differential Calculus (ed. 5) 431 Eliminate the circular and exponential function from the equation.
1884 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockmakers' Handbk. (new ed.) 60 Circular Error..in a clock [is] the difference of time caused by the pendulum following a circular instead of a cycloidal path.
B. n.† 1. A circular figure or space. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > curvature > roundness > [noun] > circularity > a circle
rondelc1300
roundelc1300
circlec1305
compass1340
rondelet1385
cerne1393
burrc1440
orba1460
O1492
O1531
circular1575
rotundo1614
rhomb1656
circumference1667
1575 J. Rolland Treat. Court Venus ii. f. 28 In ane conclaue, all maid of Christall cleir..Bot ȝit he saw within that circuleir.
1815 J. Gilchrist Labyrinth Demolished 44 O, C, G, with their diversities, are circles or circulars.
2. Short for circular letter at sense A. 8 or circular note at sense A. 8: now esp. a business notice or advertisement, printed or otherwise reproduced in large numbers for distribution.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > correspondence > letter > [noun] > letter intended for many recipients
fire briefa1643
circular letter1659
circulatory letter1668
circular1818
omnibus letter1861
round robin1871
chain letter1906
form letter1909
society > communication > information > publishing or spreading abroad > publishing or spreading by leaflets or notices > [noun] > circularizing > circular
prospectus1765
circular1818
stuffer1942
1818 H. J. Todd Johnson's Dict. Eng. Lang. Circular Letter..Modern affectation has changed this expression into the substantive; and we now hear of nothing but circulars from publick offices, and circulars from superintendants of a feast or club.
1822 Ld. Byron Let. 23 Feb. (1979) IX. 113 The Circulars are arrived and circulating.
1848 W. M. Thackeray Bk. Snobs iv. 19 Down with the Court Circular—that engine and propagator of Snobbishness! I promise to subscribe for a year to any daily paper that shall come out without a Court Circular.
1856 J. A. Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) I. ii. 155 He summoned the peers by circular to London.
1880 Brit. Post. Guide 6 Circulars,—i.e., letters which, from internal evidence, appear to be intended for transmission in identical terms to several persons..may also be sent by book post.
1888 N. Lindley Partnership (ed. 5) 222 A change in the name of a firm..coupled with announcements of the change by circulars sent to the old customers.
3. A circular saw.
ΚΠ
1909 S. E. White Rules of Game i. iv We cut with ‘circulars’ instead of band-saws.
1909 S. E. White Rules of Game i. vii Band saws. No circulars here.
Compounds
C1. Technical.
circular bolt n. ‘a machine employed by the Nottingham lace manufacturers in making net’ (Simmonds Trade Dict.).
circular canon n. Music a canon which leads back to the beginning and repeats itself instead of coming to a regular close.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > piece of music > type of piece > piece in specific form > [noun] > canon > types of
round1776
circular canon1869
crab-canon1908
cancrizans1926
1869 F. A. G. Ouseley Treat. Counterpoint xv. 105 If it [the canon] is made continually to recur to the beginning, so as never to come to a regular close, it is called Infinite, or Circular.
Categories »
circular-circular work n. Architecture ‘a term applied to any work which is formed by the intersection of two cylinders whose axes are not in the same direction’ (Gwilt).
circular crystals n. ‘a term applied to the flattened groups of radiating needles which form when solutions of oxalurate of ammonia, salicine, and other substances are evaporated in a thin layer on a microscopic slide’ ( New Sydenham Soc. Lexicon).
circular file n. ‘a circular saw or serrated disc, adapted to run on a spindle or mandrel, and used in cutting teeth of cog-wheels’ (E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech.).
circular instruments n. instruments for measuring angles, graduated round the whole circumference of a circle, i.e. 360°.
Categories »
circular loom n. ‘a loom in which the shuttle moves in a circular race and continuously in one direction through warps arranged in a circle’ (E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech.).
circular mil n. a unit of area equal to the area of a circle whose diameter is one mil, used in measuring cross-sections of wires, tubes, rods, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > measurement > measurement of length > [noun] > units of length or distance > inch > one thousandth of an inch > used in measuring wire
circular mil1896
1896 F. Bedell Princ. Transformer xv. 306 For conductors larger than 50,000 circular mils, flat copper ribbons are always used.
circular number n. a number whose powers terminate in the same digit as the number itself.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > [noun] > produced in a certain way > circular or spherical numbers
spherical number1646
sphericity1658
circular number1796
1796 C. Hutton Math. & Philos. Dict. Circular Numbers..are such as have their powers ending in the roots themselves. As the number 5, whose square is 25, and its cube 125, etc.
circular polarization n. polarization of light or other electromagnetic radiation in which the plane of polarization rotates about the direction of the ray as it progresses.
ΚΠ
1831 D. Brewster Treat. Optics xxvii. 225 A new species of polarisation, which I have called elliptical polarisation, and which unites the two classes of phenomena which constitute circular and rectilineal polarisation.
Categories »
circular sailing n. Nautical navigation by the arc of a great circle (see circle n. 2b).
circular saw n. a saw in the form of a circular disc, which is made to revolve rapidly on its axis. Hence circular saw-mill, etc.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > cutting tool > saw > [noun] > power saws > circular saws
circular saw1815
buzz1823
table saw1832
sawing-bench1845
saw-bench1846
buzz-saw1858
wobble saw1872
slasher1892
rift saw1906
Skilsaw1925
burr-saw-
1815 J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art I. 98 The construction of a circular saw-mill, invented by Smart.
1817 Niles' Reg. 12 336/2 At the steam saw mill there is a circular saw,..chiefly calculated for cutting veneers.
1825 ‘J. Nicholson’ Operative Mechanic 444 Circular saws..are now used in the dock-yard at Portsmouth.
1852 C. W. Hoskyns Talpa 178 As easily as a circular-saw cuts a plank.
circular shears n. ‘shears for sheet-metal consisting of two circular blades on parallel pins’ (E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech.).
Categories »
circular work n. Architecture ‘a term applied to any work with cylindric faces’ (Gwilt).
C2.
a.
circular-cutting adj.
ΚΠ
1852 C. W. Hoskyns Talpa 182 The circular-cutting implement I have described.
circular-edged adj.
ΚΠ
1794 D. Steel Elements & Pract. Rigging & Seamanship I. 151 Gouges are..circular-edged tools.
circular-shaped adj.
circular-storied adj.
circular-visaged adj.
ΚΠ
1836 C. Dickens Pickwick Papers (1837) v. 50 A couple of large-headed, circular-visaged males.
b.
circular-wise adv.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > curvature > roundness > [adverb] > in form or manner of circle or ring
roundc1300
arounda1425
circle-wise1542
circularly1543
roundwise1577
circular-wise1598
roundways1644
1598 B. Yong tr. A. Pérez 2nd Pt. Diana in tr. J. de Montemayor Diana 302 The thunderclap as it comes not right down but circularwise.
1725 R. Bradley Chomel's Dictionaire Œconomique at Pheasant Pouts Place the Nets..circularwise.
Draft additions September 2020
circular firing squad n. originally and chiefly U.S. a group of people who are engaged in self-destructive internal conflicts and mutual recriminations; (also) a situation, event, etc., characterized by this kind of behaviour.
ΚΠ
1973 Let. in Las Vegas (New Mexico) Optic 23 Mar. 2/1 It is imperative that if we do not integrate we must—at the least—synchronize our lives; otherwise we will form a circular firing squad in which members of the squad will kill all that is worthwhile within the circle as well as themselves in the cross-fire.
1997 Financial Times 9 Oct. 10/2 Tapping into a rich vein of discontent, he..described the Tory parliamentary party as a ‘circular firing squad’.
2018 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 1 Feb. (Late Final ed.) a1 The situation quickly degenerated into something of a circular firing squad. They protected their own interests, shifted blame and potentially left themselves..legally vulnerable.
Draft additions December 2021
circular economy n. an economic system in which the journey of a product, material, etc., leads back in some way to where it began; (now esp.) a system or process which seeks to minimize or remediate harm to the environment by recycling, reusing, or regenerating products or materials, as a means of reducing waste and more sustainably or efficiently continuing production; cf. linear economy n.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > management of money > management of national resources > [noun] > political economy > types of economic system
free market1642
peasant economy1883
agriculturism1885
money economy1888
price system1889
external economy1890
peace economy1905
war economy1919
planned economy1924
market economy1929
circular economy1932
managed economy1932
mixed economy1936
market socialism1939
plural economy1939
market capitalism1949
external diseconomy1952
siege economy1962
knowledge economy1967
linear economy1968
EMU1969
wage economy1971
grey economy1977
EMS1978
enterprise culture1979
new economy1981
tiger1981
share economy1983
gig economy2009
1932 North Adams (Mass.) Transcript 8 Aug. 6/5 What had been an old straight-line economy from labor, through the producer, to the market was now converted, as it were, into a circular economy, where the products went from labor, through the producer, around to a market which was in large and increasing proportion made up of labor itself.
1989 Los Angeles Times (Electronic ed.) 26 Dec. 1 In order to survive in the next decade, many companies will begin ‘moving away from the '50s throwaway society to a resource-conservation and recycling society—from a linear to a circular economy’.
2021 Hobart (Austral.) Mercury (Nexis) 23 Mar. 20 With..environmental debt continuing to build, the idea of a circular economy has taken root in Europe, China and Japan.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1889; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
<
adj.n.1430- sour-grapeism
- sour-grapey
- sour-grapiness
- sour-hearted
- sour-looked
- sour-looking
- sour-louten
- sour-mash
- sour-natured
- sour-pussed
- sour-smelling
- sour-sop
- sour-sop bird
- sour-sop tree
- sour-sweet
- sour-tempered
- sour-tongued
- sour-visaged
- sourball
- sourballs
- sourblooded
- sourbreathed
- source
- source book
- source code