circinglet

A mi pelling of surcingle. Circinus (sèr'si-nus), n. [NL., circle (ser'kl), n. [The spelling with i is due to mod. imitation of the Latin; On hir heed she hadde a cercle of goolde bright shynynge. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 430. 3. A round body; a sphere; an orb. IMG:content-0437.png:[graphic] 4t. Isa. xl. 22. It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth. Circuit; course. The sun in his sercle sette vpo lofte; All clerit the course, clensit the aire. Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 7633. I went my winter circle thro' my district, Rochester & other places. Evelyn , Diary, Nov. 14, 1666. 5. Compa ; inclosure. In the circle of this forest. Shak., As you Like it, v. 4. Certainly there is no happine within this circle of flesh. Sir T. Browne, Religio Medici, i. 44. 6. Something conceived as analogous to a circle; specifically, a number of persons intimately related to a central interest, person, or event; hence, a number of persons a ociated by any tie; a coterie; aset: as, a circle of ideas; to move in the higher circles of society; the cir cles of fashion; the family circle. As his name gradually became known the circle of his acquaintance widened. Macaulay . In private circles , indeed, he [Sunder land] was in the habit of talking with profane contempt of the most sacred things. Macaulay , Hist. Eng., vi. 7. A series ending where it begins, and perpetually repeated. Thus in a circle runs the peasant's pain, And the year rolls within itself again. Dryden , tr. of Virgil's Georgics, ii. 556. 8. A complete system, involving several subordinate divisions: as, the circle of the sciences. When he has gone thus far, he has shown you the whole circle of his accomplishments. Add is on, The Man of the Town. IMG:content-0438.png:[graphic] spirally backward and inward: applied to the proboscis of a haustellate insect, as a butterfly. circinatet (sér ́si-nāt), v. t. ori. [ [Rare.] Has he given the lye In circle or oblique, or semi-circle, Or direct parallel? You must challenge him. Fletcher (and another ), Queen of Corinth, iv. 1. 10. In logic, an inconclusive form of argument, in which two or more unproved statements, or their equivalents, are used to prove each other: often called a vicious circle, or argument in a IMG:content-0439.png:[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small] latter into n equal parts, then the continued product of the distances of P from the n points so obtained is equal to ± (R-r*), and the continued product of the distances of P from the middle points of the n arcs is R + r * .- De Moivre's property of the circle (named from the dis- coverer, the Franco-English mathematician Abraham de Moivre, 1667-1754), the theorem that, if the circumfer- then the continued product of the squares of the distances of P from then points on the circumference is R 27" R cos no + 2, where is the angle between Pc and the radius to one of the points of division of the circumference. - Diametral circle. See diametral . Diffraction cir- cles, small circles round the well-defined image of a star as seen in a telescope under favorable circumstances.- Diffusion circles. See diffusion . - Directing circle. See gabion . - Director circle, in geom ., the locus of the in- tersection of two tangents to a conic cutting each other at or other point in the heavens, in its apparent diurnal revo- lution about the earth, or, in reality, in the rotation of the earth upon its axis. - Druidical circles. See druidical . tic . Great circle, a circle on a sphere the plane of which pa es through the center of the sphere. - Horary circle, or hour-circle. (a) In artificial globes, a small bra circle fixed to the north pole, divided into 24 parts of 15° each, corresponding to the 24 hours of the day, and furnished with an index to point them out. (b) A line showing the hour on a sun-dial. (c) A circle of declination: referred to as the two -hour circle, etc., especially as the six -hour circle. Knights of the Golden Circle. See knight.- Mural circle, a transit-circle attached to a wall instead of being mounted between two piers.- Nine-point circle, a circle drawn through the middle points of the sides of a triangle, the feet of the perpendiculars let fall on the sides from the vertices, and the middle points of the lines from the common intersection of these perpendiculars the vertices.-Oblique circle. See oblique . On the cir- cle, in com ., a phrase used of bills or similar obligations maturing or succe ively falling due in the course of bus i- ne . [Eng.]- Osculating circle, a circle having a higher order of contact with a curve at a given point than any other circle, and pa ing through at least three consecu- tive points of the curve. See osculation . - Polar circle. See polar .-Radical axis of two circles. See axis1.- Reflecting circle, an instrument constructed upon the principle of the sextant, but carrying two verniers. - Re- peating circle, an instrument so arranged that succes- sive measures of the same angle are mechanically added together upon a graduated circle: a mode of construction formerly much employed with a view of eliminating the errors of graduation. - Secondary circle, a great circle of a sphere perpendicular to another regarded as primary. - Seven-point circle. Same as Brocard circle (which see, above). - To square the circle. See circle- squarer.- Tucker circle (named from the discoverer, an English mathematician, Robert Tucker), the circle through the six points where the sides of triangle cut by paral- IMG:content-0440.png:[blocks in formation] Nor so begin, as did that circler late: I sing a noble war and Priam's fate. circlet (sèr'klet), n. [ Her faire lockes in rich circlet be enrold. Spenser, F. Q., III. v. 5. Certain Ladies or Counte es, with plain circlets of gold, without flowers. Shak., Hen. VIII., iv. 1. Till Hesperus displayed His golden circlet in the western shade. lels to the other sides through the symmedian point. 3. A circular piece of wood put under a dish Vanishing circle, a great circle of the heavens in which at table. [Prov. Eng.] a number of parallel planes meet or appear to meet. - circle wise (sér'kl-wiz), adv . [ circle + -wise .] Vertical circle, an instrument used in geodesy, consist- ing of a theodolite provided with a very accurate circle attached to its horizontal axis, for the purpose of measur- ing angular elevations. - Vicious circle, in logic , an ar- gum ent at i on in a circle. See def. 10, above. circle (ser'kl), v.; pret. and pp. care circling. [ celclar = Sp. Pg. circular = It. circolare , also cer- chiare , = G. zirkeln = Sw. cirkla = Dan. cirkle , circulare , make circular, encircle, cir- culus , circle: see circle , n.] I. circle, n.] I. trans. 1. To encircle; encompa ; surround; inclose. Where should I stay? To what end should I hope? Am I not circled round with misery? Fletcher (and another ), Sea Voyage, i. 1. We may find fault with the rich valleys of Thasus, be- cause they are circled by sharp mountains. 2. To move around; revolve around. [Rare.] Drake's old ship at Deptford may sooner circle the world again. B. Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, i. 2. 3. To make to move in a circle or to revolve. The acrobat went about to market and fair, circling knives and balls adroitly through his hands. Welsh, English Literature, I. 70. To circle in, to confine; keep together by encircling or inclosing. Sir K. Digby. II. in trans. 1. To move in a round or circle; circulate; revolve or turn circularly. Full well the busy whisper circling round Conveyed the dismal tidings when he frowned. scale of the pianoforte, but not strictly so in theoretical acoustics. The theoretical error,, is called a Pytha- gore an comma , and is approximately represented as.- Circle of latitude. (a) In astron ., a great circle perpen- dicular to the plane of the ecliptic. Upon such circles celestial latitudes are measured. (b) In geog ., a small cir- cle the plane of which is perpendicular to the axis of the earth; a circle of the globe parallel to the equator: more usually called a parallel of latitude . - Circle of least confusion. See confusion . Circle of perpetual app a- rition. See apparition . - Circle of perpetual occult a- tion, See occultation. - Circle of the empire, an ad- ministrative division of the Roman German Empire.- Circle of the sphere, a circle described on the sphere of the earth or the heavens. The equator, the ecliptic, the meridians, and the parallels of latitude are all circles of the sphere. A great circle of the sphere is one the plane of which pa es through the center of the earth, as the equator. Circle of Ulloa, a luminous ring or white rain- bow sometimes appearing in alpine regions opposite the sun during foggy weather. Circle of Will is, the circle of arteries at the base of the brain formed by the posterior cerebral, the posterior communicating, the internal ca- rotid, the anterior cerebral, and the anterior communicat ing arteries.- Circle parade, or the parade of circle, in fencing , a method of parrying by wheeling the foil close- ly and rapidly round from right to left, to throw off the adversary's weapon from the center of attack. Rolando (ed. Forsyth). Coaxial circles, a system of circles hav- ing one line of centers and one radical axis. Cotes's properties of the circle (named from the discoverer, the English mathematician Roger Cotes, 1682-1716), the two theorems that, given a circle of radius R and a point circle-cutter (sér'kl-kut"ėr), n. A tool used Pat a distancer from the center c, if, starting with the intersection of Pe with the circumference, we divide the by opticians to cut circles in thin gla . M. Arnold, Sohrab and Rustum. 2. To form a circle; a ume or have the form of a circle. The forme of this City is in maner round with 3. strong wals, circuling the one within the other. Hakluyt's Voyages , I. 479. Circle wise sit they, with bound locks And foreheads garlanded. We are now within the circuit of the ancient colony. E. A. Freeman, Venice, p. 59. 31. That which encircles; a ring or circlet. The golden circuit on my head, Like to the glorious sun's transparent beams. English Gilds (E. E. T. S.), p. 370. Like Maia's son he stood, And shook his plumes, that heavenly fragrance fill'd The circuit wide. Milton , P. L., v. 287. All the pomp that fills electrical machine or of a voltaic battery; the path of an electric current. In a voltaic battery the circuit consists of the metallic plates in the cells, with the liquid in which they are immersed, and also the con- duct or-for example, a wire-which joins the two poles of the battery; in the telegraph the earth forms part of point, it is broken or opened . 13. A roundabout argument or statement; circumlocution. [Rare.] 14. In logic , the extension of a term. See ex- tension.-15. In math . , a closed path on a sur- face. - Circuit court, the court held by a judge in circuit. - Commi ioner of the Circuit Court. See commis- sioner. - Independent circuits, in math . , circuits which cannot by continuous change be made to coincide. - Re- ducible circuit, in math ., a circuit which by continuous change can be made to shrink up into a point: opposed to irreducible circuit . - To make a circuit, to take a round about road; go out of the direct road. To ride circuit, accompanying a circuit court: said of judges or lawyers. or the circuit. (a) To ride or drive from place to place, (b) In the Meth . Ch ., to go the rounds of a circuit as an itinerant preacher. - United States circuit courts, fed. eral courts held in the several judicial circuits (see def. 7). These courts have jurisdiction in criminal cases, and in civil cases involving $500 or more, and until the establishment of the Circuit Court of Appeals in 1891 had appellate jurisdiction. circuit (ser'kit), v. [ trans . To revolve about or go around in. [Rare.] Geryon, having circuited the air. Circuity of action, in law , the indirectne of succe ive actions by different persons, when an action by the first person in the series directly against the last might afford relief with equal justice. circulable (sėr'kū-la-bl), a. [ circul ( ate ), v ., + -able.] Capable of being circulated. circulant (sér kū-lant), n. [L. circulan(t-)s, ppr. of circular i , form a circle: see circulate .] In math . , a determinant having all the elements of the principal diagonal equal, and those of every row the same as those of any other cycli- cally transposed. - Skew circulant, a determinant which differs from a circulant as above defined only in having the signs of all the elements on one side of the principal diagonal changed. IMG:content-0441.png:[blocks in formation] circuit-breaker (sér'kit-brā"ker), n. A device for automatically opening an electric circuit, either at regular intervals, or to protect the circuit from exce ive currents; a rheotome.. circuit-closer (sèr'kit-klō" zèr), n. for closing an electrical circuit. The most common form is the telegraphic (Morse) key. A disk having inter- vals upon the rim covered with insula tory material is also used for certain purposes. A spring resting on the disk closes the circuit when by the revolution of the disk it is brought in contact with the parts not protected by the in- sulating material. circuiteer (sér-ki-tēr'), n. [ circuit + -eer.] One who moves in or travels a circuit. [Rare.] Like your fellow- circuiteer the sun, you travel the round of the earth, and behold all the iniquities under the heav- Pope , To Mr. on the Circuit. IMG:content-0442.png:[blocks in formation] IMG:content-0443.png:[blocks in formation] We find the originals of our present iron railways in those wooden railways which Roger North, when circuit- eering with his brother Lord North, noted as existing at Newcastle. S. Dowell , Taxes in England, III. 64. cir cuiter (sėr'kit-ér), n. [ cir cuiter . Whitlock, Manners of Eng. People, p. 513. circuit i on (ser-kū-ish'on), n. [L. circuitio (n- ) , circumitio (n-), circumire , go round: see circuit, n.] 1. The act of going round. Bp . Pearson.-2. Circumlocution. [Rare in both uses.] circuitous (ser-kū'i-tus), a. [ circuit us , a circuit: see circuit , n.] Going round in a circuit; not direct; roundabout: as, a circuitous road or course; " circuitous means, Burke . IMG:content-0444.png:[ocr errors] His army marched by a circuitous path, near six miles in length. Macaulay , Hist. Eng., v. The King and Queen's court, which is circular And perfect. B. Jonson, Love's Welcome at Bolsover. In this, sister, Mas singer , Emperor of the East, iii. 1. How shall I then begin, or where conclude, To draw a fame so truly circular ? 8t. Roundabout; circuitous; circumlocutory. If you knew well my heart, you would not be So circular . circuitously (ser-kū'i-tus-li), adv . In a circuicular letter, a letter conveying information or instruc- to us manner. circuitousne (sér-kū'i-tus-nes), n. The qual- ity, state, or condition of being circuitous or roundabout; circuity: as, the circuitousne of the route led to delay. Ch ., one who rides a circuit; a minister who supplies the several stations which constitute a circuit, preaching at each succe ively. He was accustomed to preach twice every week-day and three times on every Sunday, after the laborious manner of the circuit - rider of his time. 10. A number of theaters controlled by one manager.-11. The name given by foreigners in China to a subdivision of a province, con- taining two or more fû or prefectures, under E. Eggleston, Circuit-Rider, xiii. the control of an official styled a Tao-tai.-12. circuity (sér-kū'i-ti), n.; pl. circuities (-tiz). [ circuit us , a circuit: see circuit , n.] 1. A going round; movement in a circle or circuit. The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia: The Century dictionary circular senter is really the person entitled to receive the money. -Circular number, in math., a number the powers of are expre ed by numbers the last figure in which which are is the number itself. Thus, 5 and 6 are circular numbers, because 52=25, 62-36, 53-125, 63-216, etc. - Circular plane, in math., a plane tangent to the absolute. - Cir cup oints infinity, math., two fictitious points in every plane through which every circle in that plane is conceived to pa . See absolute, n., 2.- Circular polarization. See polarization. - Circular sailing, the method of sailing on the arc of a great circle. See sailing. - Circular saw. See sawl. - Circular sinus, in an at., a venous ring lying in the sella turcica, and connecting the right and left cavernous sinuses. - Circular system, in nat, hist., a name sometimes given to the quinary systems of cla ification used by MacLeay and by Swains on. See quinary. Napier's circular parts, in math., five parts of a right-angled or a quadrantal spherical triangle. They are the legs, the complement of the hypothenuse, and the complements of the two oblique angles. If any one part is called the middle part, the two next to it are the adjacent parts, and the other two the opposite. Napier's rules for the circular parts serve for the solution of all cases of right-angled spherical triangles. II. n. 1. A letter, notice, or printed paper containing information, or an announcement, or a request, etc., intended for general circulation or for circulation among a particular cla or circle of persons; a circular letter: as, a busine circular ; a diplomatic circular . The Government loudly proclaims to Europe reforms for Poland. It informs the various Courts of them by diplomatic circulars. H. S. Edwards , Polish Captivity, II. i. 2. [Cf. cyclas , ciclaton .] A kind of long cape or sleevele cloak worn by women: as, a fur circular.