Dictionary
An American Dictionary of the English Language
Revised and enlarged (Goodrich & Porter)
Springfield, Mass. · G. & C. Merriam · 1865
- Entries
- 95,912
- Pages
- 1,538
- Illustrations
- 2,133
Look up a word as the writers of the time used it.
Cīr'cle, n. p. 231A plane figure, bounded by a single curve line called its circumference, every part of which is equally distant from a point within it called the center. 2. The line that bounds such a figure; a…Cir'cle, v. t. p. 231To move around; to revolve around. “Other planets circle other suns.” Pope. 2. To encompass, as by a circle; to surround; to inclose. Prior. Pope. Their heads are circled with a short turban.…Cir'cle, v. i. p. 231To move circularly. Thy name shall circle round the gaping throng. Byron.Cir'cled, a. p. 231Having the form of a circle; round. “Monthly changes in her circled orb.” Shak.Cir'eler, n. p. 231A mean or inferior poet, perhaps from his habit of wandering around as a stroller; an itinerant poet. [Obs.] B. Jonson.Cir'celet, n. p. 231A little circle, as of gold, jewels, &c. “Her fair locks in rich circlet be enroled.” Spenser. 2. A round body; an orb. Fairest of stars . . . that crown’st the smiling morn With thy bright circlet.…Cir'co-cèle, n. p. 231See CIRSOCELE.Cĭr'ceos, n. p. 231A kind of hawk. [Obs.] Holland.Cir'cuit, n. p. 231The act of moving or revolving around; as, the periodical circuit of the earth round the sun. Watts. 2. A regular or appointed journeying from place to place in the exercise of one's calling, as of a…Cir'cuit, v. i. p. 231To move in a circle; to go round; to circulate. [Obs.] Philips.Cir'cuit, v. t. p. 231To move or make to go round.Cĭr'cuit-eer', n. p. 231One who travels a circuit. Pope.Cir'cu-i'tion, n. p. 232The act of going round; compass; circumlocution. [Rare.] Hooker.Cir-cū'i-tous, a. p. 232Going round in a circuit; round about; indirect; as, a circuitous road; a circuitous manner of accomplishing an end. Burke.Cir-cū'i-tōŭs-ly, adv. p. 232In a circuit.Cir-cū'i-ty, n. p. 232A going round in a circle; a course not direct. Bouvier.Cir'cu-la-ble, a. p. 232Capable of being circulated.Cir'cu-lar, a. p. 232Of, or pertaining to, a circle; in the form of a circle; round. 2. Repeating itself; ending in itself; reverting to the point of beginning; hence, illogical; inconclusive; as, circular reasoning.…Cir'cu-lar, n. p. 232A circular letter, or paper, often printed, copies of which are addressed to various persons; as, a business circular; a political circular.Cir'cu-lār'i-ty, n. p. 232The state of being circular.Cir'cu-lar-ly, adv. p. 232In a circular manner.Cĭr'cu-la-ry, a. p. 232Circular. [Obs.] Hooker.Cir'cu-lāte, v. i. p. 232To move in a circle or circuitously; to move or pass round; to move round and return to the same point; as, the blood circulates in the body. Boyle. 2. To pass from place to place, from person to…Cir'cu-lāte, v. t. p. 232To cause to pass from place to place, or from person to person; as, to circulate a report; to circulate bills of credit. Syn.—To spread; diffuse; propagate; disseminate.Cir'cu-lā'tion, n. p. 232The act of moving in a circle, or in a course which brings the moving body to the place where its motion began; as, the circulation of the blood in the body. 2. The act of going about, or of passing…Cir'cu-la-tive, a. p. 232Promoting circulation; circulating. [Rare.]Cir'cu-lā'tor, n. p. 232One who, or that which, circulates.Cir'cu-la-tō'ri-oŭs, a. p. 232Traveling in a circuit, or from house to house. [Obs.] “Circulatorious jugglers.” Barrow.Cir'cu-la-to-ry, a. p. 232Circular; as, a circulatory letter. Johnson. 2. Circulating, or going round. Warton.Cir'cu-la-to-ry, n. p. 232A chemical vessel, in which that which rises from the vessel on the fire is collected and cooled in another fixed upon it, and falls down again. Johnson.Cĭr'cu-lēt, n. p. 232A circlet. [Obs.] Spenser.Cir'cu-līne, a. p. 232Proceeding in a circle; circular. [Obs.] “With motion circuline.” More.Cĭr'cum p. 232A Latin preposition, used as a prefix in many English words.Cir'cum-ăg'i-tāte, v. t. p. 232To agitate on all sides with frequent motion; to shake round. Bp. Taylor.Cir'cum-ăm'bi-en-cy, n. p. 232The act of surrounding or encompassing. Browne.Cir'cum-ăm'bi-ēnt, a. p. 232Surrounding; inclosing or being on all sides; encompassing. “The circumambient heaven.” Armstrong.Circ'um-ăm'bu-lāte, v. i. p. 232To walk round about. “Persons that circumambulated with their box and needles, not knowing what they did.” Hood.Cir'cum-ăm'bu-lā'tion, n. p. 232The act of walking round.Cir'cum-bĕnd'i-būs, n. p. 232A circuitous movement or route. [Vulgar.] Goldsmith.Cir'cum-cēl'ion, n. p. 232(Eccl. Hist.) One of a set of illiterate peasants that adhered to the Donatists in the fourth century, receiving this name because they rambled from one town to another, and pretended to public…Cîr'cum-cīse, v. t. p. 232To cut off the prepuce or foreskin of, in the case of males, and the internal labia of, in the case of females. The circumcision of males is practiced as a religious rite by the Jews, Mohammedans…Cir'cum-ci'ser, n. p. 232One who performs circumcision. Milton.Cir'cum-cī'sion, n. p. 232The act of cutting off the prepuce or foreskin of males, and the internal labia of females. 2. (Script.) (a.) Rejection of the sins of the flesh; spiritual purification, and acceptance of the…Cir'cum-clū'sion, n. p. 232The act of inclosing on all sides.Cir'cum-cur-sā'tion, n. p. 232The act of running about. [Obs.] “A factious circumcursation of desperate wretches.” Barrow.Cir'cum-dūce', v. t. p. 232To circumduct. [Rare.] “I must circumduce the term.” W. Scott.Çĩr'cum-dŭct', v. t. p. 232To lead about; to lead astray. [Rare.] 2. (Law.) To contravene; to nullify; as, to circumduct acts of judicature. Ayliffe.Çĩr'cum-dŭc'tion, n. p. 232A leading about. [Rare.] Hooker. 2. An annulling; cancellation. [Rare.] Ayliffe.Çĩr'cum-fẽr, v. t. p. 232To bear or carry round. [Obs.] Bacon.Çir-cŭm'fer-ençe, n. p. 232The line that goes round or encompasses a circular figure; a periphery. “The scale of nature set from center to circumference.” Milton. 2. The space included in a circle; a circle; any thing…Cir-cūm'fer-ence, v. t. p. 232To include in a circular space. [Obs.] Browne.Cir-cūm'fer-ēn'tial, a. p. 232Pertaining to the circumference. Parkhurst.Cir-cūm'fer-ēn'tor, n. p. 232An instrument used by surveyors for taking horizontal angles and bearings. It is nearly the same as the surveyor's compass, except that the graduation of the scale is continued to 360°.Cir'cum-flānt, a. p. 232Blowing around. [Obs. and rare.] “Circumflant air.” Evelyn.Cir'cum-flēct, v. t. p. 232To mark with the circumflex. [Rare.]Cir'cum-flĕx, n. p. 232A wave of the voice embracing both a rise and fall on the same syllable. Walker. 2. A character, or accent, denoting in Greek a rise and fall of the voice on the same long syllable, marked thus [~ or…Cĭr'cum-flĕx, v. t. p. 232To mark or pronounce with a circumflex. Walker.Cir'cum-flēx, a. p. 232Moving or turning round; circuitous. [Rare.] Swift.Cir'cum-flex'ion, n. p. 232The act of bending, or causing to assume a curved form. 2. A winding about; a turning; a circuitry; a fold.Cir-cŭm'flu-ence, n. p. 232A flowing round on all sides; an inclosure of waters.