circuit

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A closed, usually circular line that goes around an object or area.
2. n. The region enclosed by such a line. See Synonyms at circumference.
3. n. A path or route the complete traversal of which without local change of direction requires returning to the starting point.
4. n. The act of following such a path or route.
5. n. A journey made on such a path or route.
6. n. Electronics A closed path followed or capable of being followed by an electric current.
7. n. Electronics A configuration of electrically or electromagnetically connected components or devices.
8. n. A regular or accustomed course from place to place; a round: a salesperson on the Detroit-Minneapolis-Chicago circuit; a popular speaker on the lecture circuit.
9. n. The area or district thus covered, especially a territory under the jurisdiction of a judge in which periodic court sessions are held.
10. n. An association of theaters in which plays, acts, or films move from theater to theater for presentation.
11. n. A group of nightclubs, show halls, or resorts at which entertainers appear in turn.
12. n. An association of teams or clubs.
13. n. A series of competitions held in different places.
14. v. To make a circuit or circuit of.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The act of moving or passing around; a circular movement, progress, or journey; a revolution.
2. n. A boundary-line encompassing any object; the distance round any space, whether circular or of other form; circumference; limit; compass.
3. n. That which encircles; a ring or circlet.
4. n. The space inclosed in a circle or within certain limits.
5. n. The journey of a judge or other person from one place to another for the purpose of holding court or performing other stated duties.
6. n. The district or territory in which any business involving periodical journeys from place to place is carried on; the places visited.
7. n. Specifically The district or portion of country in which the same judge or judges hold courts for the trial of questions of fact. The circuits of England and Wales (of which there are seven fixed by order in Council) are now constituted as follows: the home circuit, or southeastern circuit, includes Hertford, Chelmsford, Lewes, Maidstone, Huntingdon, Cambridge, Ipswich (alternately with Bury St. Edmunds), and Norwich; the midland circuit, Bedford, Aylesbury, Derby, Leicester, Lincoln, Northampton, Nottingham, Oakham, Warwick Division, and Birmingham; the northern circuit, Carlisle, Appleby, Northern Division, Lancaster, Manchester, and Liverpool; the northeastern circuit, Durham, Newcastle, York, and Leeds; the Oxford circuit, Reading, Oxford, Worcester, Stafford, Shrewsbury, Hereford, Monmouth, and Gloucester; the western circuit, general assizes, Winchester, Devizes (alternately with Salisbury), Dorchester, Exeter, Bodmin, Taunton (alternately with Wells), and Bristol; the North Wales circuit, Welshpool (alternately with Newtown), Dolgelly, Carnarvon, Beaumaris, Ruthin, Mold, and Chester Castle; and South Wales circuit, Haverfordwest, Cardigan, Carmarthen, Swansea or Cardiff, Brecon, and Presteign. Ireland is divided into six circuits; and Scotland, exclusive of the Lothians, is divided into three circuits, each presided over by two judges of the High Court of Judiciary, or Supreme Criminal Court. The circuits of the United States courts are now constituted as follows: First circuit', the districts of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island; second circuit, the districts of Vermont, Connecticut, and New York (northern, southern, and eastern); third circuit, the districts of New Jersey, Pennsylvania (eastern and western), and Delaware; fourth circuit, the districts of Maryland, North Carolina (eastern and western), South Carolina (eastern and western), West Virginia, and Virginia (eastern and western); fifth circuit, the districts of Georgia (northern and southern), Florida (northern and southern), Alabama (southern, middle, and northern), Mississippi (northern and southern), Louisiana (eastern and western), and Texas (eastern, western, and northern); sixth circuit, the districts of Ohio (northern and southern), Michigan (eastern and western), Kentucky, and Tennessee (eastern, middle, and western); seventh circuit, the districts of Indiana, Illinois (northern and southern), and Wisconsin (eastern and western); eighth circuit, the districts of Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri (eastern and western), Kansas, Arkansas (eastern and western), Nebraska, and Colorado; ninth circuit, the districts of California, Oregon, and Nevada.
8. n. Hence A circuit court (see below).
9. n. In the Meth. Ch., the district assigned to an itinerant preacher.
10. n. A number of theaters controlled by one manager.
11. n. The name given by foreigners in China to a subdivision of a province, containing two or more fû or prefectures, under the control of an official styled a Tao-tai.
12. n. The arrangement by which a current of electricity is kept up between the two poles of an 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 conductor—for example, a wire—which joins the two poles of the battery; in the telegraph the earth forms part of the circuit. When the path of the current is completely made, so that the electricity is free to flow, the circuit is said to be made, completed, or closed; if interrupted at any point, it is broken or opened.
13. n. A roundabout argument or statement; circumlocution.
14. n. In logic, the extension of a term. See extension.
15. n. In mathematics, a closed path on a surface.
16. n. In the Meth. Ch., to go the rounds of a circuit as an itinerant preacher.
17. To revolve about or go around in.
18. To move in a circle or circuit; go around.

Wiktionary

1. n. The act of moving or revolving around, or as in a circle or orbit; a revolution; as, the periodical circuit of the earth around the sun.
2. n. The circumference of, or distance around, any space; the measure of a line around an area.
3. n. That which encircles anything, as a ring or crown.
4. n. The space enclosed within a circle, or within limits.
5. n. electricity Enclosed path of an electric current, usually designed for a certain function.
6. n. A regular or appointed journeying from place to place in the exercise of one's calling, as of a judge, or a preacher.
7. n. law A certain division of a state or country, established by law for a judge or judges to visit, for the administration of justice.
8. n. A district in which an itinerant preacher labors.
9. n. By analogy to the proceeding three, a set of theaters among which the same acts circulate; especially common in the heyday of vaudeville.
10. n. obsolete circumlocution
11. v. intransitive, obsolete To move in a circle; to go round; to circulate.
12. v. obsolete To travel around.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The act of moving or revolving around, or as in a circle or orbit; a revolution.
2. n. The circumference of, or distance round, any space; the measure of a line round an area.
3. n. That which encircles anything, as a ring or crown.
4. n. The space inclosed within a circle, or within limits.
5. n. A regular or appointed journeying from place to place in the exercise of one's calling, as of a judge, or a preacher.
6. n. (Law) A certain division of a state or country, established by law for a judge or judges to visit, for the administration of justice.
7. n. (Methodist Church) A district in which an itinerant preacher labors.
8. n. obsolete Circumlocution.
9. v. obsolete To move in a circle; to go round; to circulate.
10. v. obsolete To travel around.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a journey or route all the way around a particular place or area
2. n. an established itinerary of venues or events that a particular group of people travel to
3. n. the boundary line encompassing an area or object
4. n. (law) a judicial division of a state or the United States (so-called because originally judges traveled and held court in different locations); one of the twelve groups of states in the United States that is covered by a particular circuit court of appeals
5. n. an electrical device that provides a path for electrical current to flow
6. n. a racetrack for automobile races
7. v. make a circuit
8. n. movement once around a course