cycl

n. [ NL., fr. Gr. kykla`minos, kyklami`s. ] (Bot.) A genus of plants of the Primrose family, having depressed rounded corms, and pretty nodding flowers with the petals so reflexed as to point upwards, whence it is called rabbits' ears. It is also called sow bread, because hogs are said to eat the corms. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A white amorphous substance, regarded as a glucoside, extracted from the corm of Cyclamen Europæum. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. Ciclatoun. ] A long gown or surcoat (cut off in front), worn in the Middle Ages. It was sometimes embroidered or interwoven with gold. Also, a rich stuff from which the gown was made. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Cycled. p. pr. & vb. n. Cycling ] 1. To pass through a cycle{ 2 } of changes; to recur in cycles. Tennyson. Darwin. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To ride a bicycle, tricycle, or other form of cycle. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. ycle, LL. cyclus, fr. Gr. ky`klos ring or circle, cycle; akin to Skr. cakra wheel, circle. See Wheel. ] 1. An imaginary circle or orbit in the heavens; one of the celestial spheres. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An interval of time in which a certain succession of events or phenomena is completed, and then returns again and again, uniformly and continually in the same order; a periodical space of time marked by the recurrence of something peculiar; as, the cycle of the seasons, or of the year. [ 1913 Webster ]

Wages . . . bear a full proportion . . . to the medium of provision during the last bad cycle of twenty years. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. An age; a long period of time. [ 1913 Webster ]

Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. An orderly list for a given time; a calendar. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

We . . . present our gardeners with a complete cycle of what is requisite to be done throughout every month of the year. Evelyn. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. The circle of subjects connected with the exploits of the hero or heroes of some particular period which have served as a popular theme for poetry, as the legend of Arthur and the knights of the Round Table, and that of Charlemagne and his paladins. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Bot.) One entire round in a circle or a spire; as, a cycle or set of leaves. Gray. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. A bicycle or tricycle, or other light velocipede. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. A motorcycle. [ PJC ]

9. (Thermodynamics) A series of operations in which heat is imparted to (or taken away from) a working substance which by its expansion gives up a part of its internal energy in the form of mechanical work (or being compressed increases its internal energy) and is again brought back to its original state. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

10. (Technology) A complete positive and negative, or forward and reverse, action of any periodic process, such as a vibration, an electric field oscillation, or a current alternation; one period. Hence: (Elec.) A complete positive and negative wave of an alternating current. The number of cycles (per second) is a measure of the frequency of an alternating current. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. + PJC ]

Calippic cycle, a period of 76 years, or four Metonic cycles; -- so called from Calippus, who proposed it as an improvement on the Metonic cycle. --
Cycle of eclipses, a period of about 6, 586 days, the time of revolution of the moon's node; -- called Saros by the Chaldeans. --
Cycle of indiction, a period of 15 years, employed in Roman and ecclesiastical chronology, not founded on any astronomical period, but having reference to certain judicial acts which took place at stated epochs under the Greek emperors. --
Cycle of the moon, or
Metonic cycle, a period of 19 years, after the lapse of which the new and full moon returns to the same day of the year; -- so called from Meton, who first proposed it. --
Cycle of the sun,
Solar cycle, a period of 28 years, at the end of which time the days of the month return to the same days of the week. The dominical or Sunday letter follows the same order; hence the solar cycle is also called the cycle of the Sunday letter. In the Gregorian calendar the solar cycle is in general interrupted at the end of the century. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To cause to pass through a cycle{ 2 }. [ PJC ]

{ } a. [ Cf. F. cycluque, Gr. kykliko`s, fr. ky`klos See Cycle. ] 1. Of or pertaining to a cycle or circle; moving in cycles; as, cyclical time. Coleridge. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Chemistry) Having atoms bonded to form a ring structure. Opposite of acyclic. Used most commonly in respect to organic compounds. [ Narrower terms: bicyclic; heterocyclic; homocyclic, isocyclic ]
Syn. -- closed-chain, closed-ring. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

3. Recurring in cycles{ 2 }; having a pattern that repeats at approximately equal intervals; periodic. Opposite of noncyclic. [ Narrower terms: alternate(prenominal), alternating(prenominal); alternate(prenominal), every other(prenominal), every second(prenominal); alternating(prenominal), oscillating(prenominal); biyearly; circadian exhibiting 24-hour periodicity); circular; daily, diurnal; fortnightly, biweekly; hourly; midweek, midweekly; seasonal; semestral, semestrial; semiannual, biannual, biyearly; semiweekly, biweekly; weekly; annual, yearly; biennial; bimonthly, bimestrial; half-hourly; half-yearly; monthly; tertian, alternate(prenominal); triennial ] [ WordNet 1.5 ]

4. Marked by repeated cycles{ 2 }. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

Cyclic chorus, the chorus which performed the songs and dances of the dithyrambic odes at Athens, dancing round the altar of Bacchus in a circle. --
Cyclic poets, certain epic poets who followed Homer, and wrote merely on the Trojan war and its heroes; -- so called because keeping within the circle of a single subject. Also, any series or coterie of poets writing on one subject. Milman. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. ky`klos circle. ] (Geom.) A surface of the fourth degree, having certain special relations to spherical surfaces. The tore or anchor ring is one of the cyclides. [ 1913 Webster ]