CIRCUIT


Meaning of CIRCUIT in English

I. ˈsərkə̇t, -ə̄k-, -əik-, usu -kə̇d.+V noun

( -s )

Usage: often attributive

Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French circuite, from Latin circuitus, from past participle of circuire, circumire to go around, from circum- + ire to go — more at issue

1.

a. : a usually more or less circular line encompassing an area : circumference

a swamp about 10 miles in circuit

b. : the course around the four bases in baseball

he hit for the circuit

2. : the act of moving around typically in an orbit or a circular course : a circular route : a course around a periphery : revolution

the periodic circuit of the earth around the sun

the sightseeing newcomer makes the circuit of the state — American Guide Series: Florida

3.

a. : a roundabout way : a circuitous or indirect course

describing a circuit rather than a straight course

b. obsolete : roundabout speech : circumlocution

4. : space enclosed within a circumference or periphery : area , scope

the circuit of the duke's lands

5.

a. : an appointed or accustomed course from place to place in following a calling

the old “mail rider”, who was just returning on his circuit of twenty-six miles — Ellen Glasgow

b. : the route of a traveling judge or preacher around a district or territory assigned to him

lawyers rode the circuits like the backwoods preachers of the day — American Guide Series: Tennessee

c. : a judicial district legally established

the state shall be divided into thirteen circuits — W.Va. Constitution

also : the judges and lawyers making a circuit

d. : a group of church congregations ministered to or under the supervision of one pastor (as in the Methodist Church)

6.

a. : the complete path of an electric current including any displacement current

b. : a specified portion of a circuit

external circuit

generator circuit

c. : the region through which the magnetic flux from any source extends especially when largely confined within a ferromagnetic body (as a magnet)

7.

a. : association , conference , league

baseball circuit

football circuit

b. : a series of harness races held at associated tracks according to a more or less permanent schedule

c. : a group of motion-picture theaters owned by one company

d. : a number of associated theaters at which productions are presented in turn

e. : an association, ring, or coterie sharing common interests or similar practices and gathering or performing at various places at different times

the nightclub circuit

the small college circuit

8.

a. : an assemblage of electronic elements : hookup

b. : a system for two-way communication between two places (as by telegraph, telephone, or radio)

9. : a closed path followed by a fluid in a mechanical system

hydraulic circuit

oil circuit

II. verb

( -ed/-ing/-s )

transitive verb

: to make a circuit about

an automobile route circuiting the Back Bay section of Portland — American Guide Series: Maine

: go or move in a circuit about

intransitive verb

: to go or move over a circuit

while five of my brethren are circuiting about the state — O.W.Holmes †1935

Webster's New International English Dictionary.      Новый международный словарь английского языка Webster.