(ˈ)kär|nō- noun
or car·not's cycle -ōz-
Usage: usually capitalized 1st C
Etymology: translation of French cycle de Carnot, after N.L.S. Carnot died 1832 French physicist
: an ideal heat-engine cycle in which the working substance goes through the four successive operations of isothermal expansion to a desired point, adiabatic expansion to a desired point, isothermal compression, and adiabatic compression back to its initial state