rotary

What it means

1. not comparableCapable of rotation.

   A rotary engine revolves the heads rather than having pistons go back and forth.

   1 more example

   Volatiles of kecap manis and its raw materials were extracted using Likens-Nickerson apparatus with diethyl ether as the extraction solvent. The extracts were then dried with anhydrous sodium sulfate, concentrated using a rotary evaporator followed by flushing using nitrogen until the volume was about 0.5 ml.

   1997, A. J. Taylor, D. S. Mothram, editors, Flavour Science: Recent Developments, Elsevier, →ISBN, page 63

In a sentence

A rotary engine revolves the heads rather than having pistons go back and forth.

Where it comes from

1. Latinrota“wheel”
2. Medieval Latinrotarius
3. Englishrotary

Attested mid 18th century, from Medieval Latin rotarius, from Latin rota (“wheel”).