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  1. gyre love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A circular or spiral form; a vortex: "rain swirling the night into tunnels and gyres” ( Anthony Hyde).
  2. n. A circular or spiral motion, especially a circular ocean current.
  3. v. To whirl.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. A circle or ring; a revolution of a moving body; a circular or spiral turn.
  2. n. In anatomy, a gyrus: as, a cerebral gyre.
  3. To turn; gyrate; revolve.
  4. To turn.

Wiktionary

  1. n. a swirling vortex
  2. n. a circular current, especially a large-scale ocean current
  3. v. intransitive to whirl

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. A circular motion, or a circle described by a moving body; a turn or revolution; a circuit.
  2. v. obsolete To turn round; to gyrate.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. a round shape formed by a series of concentric circles (as formed by leaves or flower petals)

Etymologies

  1. From Latin gyrus, Ancient Greek γῦρος (gyros, "circle, ring, turning") (Wiktionary)
  2. Latin gȳrus, from Greek gūros. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “While historically this debris has biodegraded, the gyre is now accumulating vast quantities of plastic and marine debris.”

    The Vortex of 80,000 Nikes

  • “A gyre is a slowly moving spiral of currents created by a high pressure system of air currents.”

    The Huffington Post: Brandon Boyd: Sustainability Isn't a Four-Letter Word -- It's a Fourteen Letter Word

  • “This rotating pattern, known as a gyre, occurs as a result of the clockwise winds that typically occur in this region.”

    Arctic Ocean

  • “Come from the holy fire, perne in a gyre, which is some sort of helix thing, like DNA, or the serpent in the Garden of Eden”

    Mitt Quits « Whatever

  • “He Mindcalled the gyre, suddenly anxious to feel the bird's familiar weight on his shoulder.”

    Winds Of Fate

  • “A gyre is a naturally occurring phenomenon where two opposing dominant wind patterns (North and South) bend because of the earth's ubiquitous Coriolis Effect to form a swirling vortex in the ocean.”

    GOOD

  • “Marcus Eriksen: The size of the gyre is the entire garbage patch.”

    Earth & Sky Podcast

  • “This meant that the 430km (270 mile) Mozambique Channel that separates the two landmasses was located in a different ocean "gyre" (circular ocean current), which had an important impact on the direction and strength of the currents within the channel.”

    BBC News | News Front Page | UK Edition

  • “It's compelling-and oddly comforting-to know that as late as 1992, scientists trying to chart the breadth of a Gulf Stream swirl (or "gyre") did so by dumping 5,000 Legos over the side of a boat and mapping the pattern of their dispersal.”

    The Texas Observer: In the Current Issue

  • “Gullible is on a page with gull, of course, and guidance, and gyre.”

    Simon & Schuster: The Kitchen Daughter

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synonyms (2)

Words with the same meaning

  1. circuit
  1. gyrate

hypernyms (1)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. round shape

hyponyms (3)

Words that are more specific

  1. verticil
  1. corolla
  1. calyx

same context (16)

Words that are found in similar contexts

  1. rangelands
  2. tap-dance
  3. llig
  1. tintinnabulation
  2. war dance
  3. whenua
  1. brunch
  2. onrush
  3. quaesiveris
  1. spattering
  2. idealmente
  3. donnerai
  1. manoo
  2. kuraph
  3. gahapati
  1. juro

reverse dictionary (11)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. gire
  2. woon
  1. preparoccipital
  2. gyre
  1. intragyral
  2. intraparacentral
  1. gyrus
  2. sinuation
  1. suboccipital
  2. suboperculum
  1. whorl

tags (3)

Free-form, user-generated categorization

  1. jabberwocky
  1. circle
  1. William Butler Yeats

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tagging (1)

Words tagged ‘gyre’

  1. turning and turning in the widening gyre

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Lists

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Comments

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  • ruzuzu Thanks! That earlier comment by seanahan is the first line from the poem "The Second Coming" by William Butler Yeats--I learned the word gyre from that poem. Sep 4, 2010

  • marky great word, found on ruzuzu's favorite word. thx ruzuzu Sep 4, 2010

  • ecbrenner In environmental science, "any manner of particularly large-scale wind, swirling vortex and ocean currents. Gyres are caused by the Coriolis effect; planetary vorticity along with horizontal and vertical friction, which determine the circulation patterns from the wind curl (torque)." --Wikipedia Jun 4, 2009

  • she A conversation with Humpty Dumpty in Through the Looking-Glass:

    "And what's the gyre and to gimble?"

    "To gyre is to go round and round like a gyroscope. To gimble is to make holes like a gimlet." Jul 17, 2008

  • seanahan turning and turning in the widening gyre Dec 13, 2006

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‘gyre’ has been looked up 5204 times, loved by 6 people, added to 52 lists, commented on 5 times, and has a Scrabble score of 8.