rotate
/rə(ʊ)ˈteɪt
/verb
1Move or cause to move in a circle round an axis or centre: [no object]: the wheel continued to rotate (as adjective rotating) a rotating drum [with object]: the small directional side rockets rotated the craft...
- Just so you get to see this trick from all angles, the centre of the stage will rotate round slowly.
- Beta station loomed out of the darkness, the centre spire rotating in an anti-clockwise direction.
- I assumed those barrels would rotate around when a round was spent, but they seemed too high-tech to be simple revolvers.
Synonyms
revolve, go round, turn, turn round, move round, spin, gyrate, wheel, whirl, twirl, swivel, circle, pirouette, pivot, reel
2 [no object] Pass to each member of a group in a regularly recurring order: the job of chairing the meeting rotates...
- Today board meetings rotate among the three locations, and design staff members travel among the offices on a project-by-project basis.
- Now most engineers work in teams of three, with project leadership rotating among team members.
- In Orpheus, that function (which rotates regularly) is similar to that of a player-coach on a soccer team.
Synonyms
alternate, take turns, take it in turns, work/act in sequence, trade places, change, switch, interchange, exchange, swap;
pass from one to another in rotation, move around
2.1 [with object] Grow (different crops) in succession on a particular piece of land to avoid exhausting the soil: these crops were sometimes rotated with grass...
- Millions of tenant farmers in the developing world have little incentive to invest in land improvements, rotate crops or improve soil fertility.
- We are still trying to find better ways to farm organically and to manage our soils and rotate our crops more productively.
- It survives winter in the soil and attacks again, even if other crops are rotated between peanut plantings.
2.2 [with object] Change the position of (tyres) on a motor vehicle to distribute wear: radial tyres should only be rotated from front to rear on the same side...
- Drive tires should be rotated between forward and back positions at least once to even out wear.
Derivatives
rotatable
- It was in the ‘Young Adult’ section of my local library, on a rotatable wire rack.
- A nice, rotatable 3D image shows me my robot as I build it.
- With coping saws, the heavier blade usually has a pin in each end of the blade which slips into a slot of a rotatable round bar.
rotative
- His main backdrop at the museum will be the Easton and Amos rotative beam engine.
- The Crossness Pumping Station was the key element, housing as it did, four magnificent rotative beam engines built by James Watt and Company.
- Their distinctive rotative engine was complete by 1787, and 4,000 horsepower was in use by 1800, over half in Lancashire, Staffordshire, London, and Yorkshire.
rotatory
- They will perform duties from the second stage as field umpires on a rotatory basis.
- If a patient has ocular rotatory problems, such as a strabismus, but leaves the midline and attempts to look both right and left, he/she should be considered to have a normal response.
- Almost 50 years ago, the author noted that the rotatory dispersion of unfolded polypeptide chains depends on the concentration of denaturants.
Origin
Late 17th century: from Latin rotat- 'turned in a circle', from the verb rotare, from rota 'wheel'.