Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A current, as of water or air, moving contrary to the direction of the main current, especially in a circular motion.
  • noun A drift or tendency that is counter to or separate from a main current, as of opinion, tradition, or history.
  • intransitive verb To move in or as if in an eddy or eddies: synonym: turn.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A part of a fluid, as a stream of water, which has a rotatory motion; any small whirl or vortex in a fluid.
  • noun Synonyms See stream.
  • To move circularly or in a winding manner, as the water of an eddy, or so as to resemble the movement of an eddy.
  • To cause to move in an eddy; collect as into an eddy; cause to whirl.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To move as an eddy, or as in an eddy; to move in a circle.
  • transitive verb rare To collect as into an eddy.
  • noun A current of air or water running back, or in a direction contrary to the main current.
  • noun A current of water or air moving in a circular direction; a whirlpool.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A current of air or water running back, or in an opposite direction to the main current. Especially a circular current.
  • verb intransitive To form an eddy.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun founder of Christian Science in 1866 (1821-1910)
  • verb flow in a circular current, of liquids
  • noun a miniature whirlpool or whirlwind resulting when the current of a fluid doubles back on itself

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English ydy, probably of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Norse idha.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English eddy, from either Old English edēa (< ed- "turning" + ēa "water"), equivalent to ed- +‎ ea; or from Old Norse iða.

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Examples

  • Because of the apparently irregular course taken by the current, these currents are called eddy currents.

    5. Magnetic Field 1991

  • The eddy was the only thing that saved him, for he could see the dread thing twirling round and round as it tried to reach him.

    The Adventures of Piang the Moro Jungle Boy A Book for Young and Old Florence Partello Stuart

  • Willy felt like a dry leaf in an eddy, which is whirled round and round, yet is all the while making faster and faster for the hungry dimple in the middle, where there is no getting out again.

    Little Grandfather Sophie May 1869

  • The reason why it floated _up_ was, that there was at this place what they call an eddy, which is a current near the shore, flowing up the stream.

    Forests of Maine Marco Paul's Adventures in Pursuit of Knowledge Jacob Abbott 1841

  • Through the furious eddy, which is in that place, the ship stood still as

    The Adventures of Ulysses Charles Lamb 1804

  • Against this backdrop, engineers came up with a new way to inspect the valves for cracks, adopting so-called eddy current analysis to look telltale defects indicative of cracks.

    Spaceflight Now 2009

  • Against this backdrop, engineers came up with a new way to inspect the valves for cracks, adopting so-called eddy current analysis to look telltale defects indicative of cracks.

    Breaking News: CBS News 2009

  • Against this backdrop, engineers came up with a new way to inspect the valves for cracks, adopting so-called eddy current analysis to look telltale defects indicative of cracks.

    Spaceflight Now 2009

  • An eddy occurs when an underwater object causes river current to reverse itself in a circular motion.

    DailyHerald.com > News 2009

  • Against this backdrop, engineers came up with a new way to inspect the valves for cracks, adopting so-called eddy current analysis to look telltale defects indicative of cracks.

    Spaceflight Now 2009

Comments

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  • There was an eddy in the mass of human bodies, and the woman with the helmeted head and tawny cheeks rushed out to the very brink of the stream.

    -Heart of Darkness, Conrad

    March 20, 2011

  • Poor Eddy. Sounds like a Mafia hit.

    March 20, 2011