gyration

plural gyrations

1. alsocountablefigurativelyuncountableThe act of turning or whirling, especially around a fixed axis or centre; a circular or spiral motion; rotation.

   His life was a gyration of energetic curiosity; an insatiable whirl of social celebrity.

   1847, B[enjamin] Disraeli, chapter XIV, in Tancred: Or, The New Crusade. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, book II, page 291

   5 more examples

   Novv that the ayre impelled returnes unto its place in a gyration or vvhirling, is evident from the Atomes or moates in the Sun. For vvhen the Sunne ſo enters a hole or vvindovv, that by its illumination the Atomes or moates become perceptible, if then by our breath the ayre bee gently impelled, it may be perceived that they vvill circularly returne, and in a gyration unto their places againe.

   1646, Thomas Browne, “Of Bodies Electricall”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], London: […] T[homas] H[arper] for Edward Dod, […], →OCLC, 2nd book, page 80

   If Regularity and ſteddineſs accompany Velocity; the motion then leaves not the leaſt track in the ſenſitive. Thus a French Top, the common recreation of School-boys, throvvn from a cord vvhich vvas vvound about it, will ſtand as if it vvere fixt on the floor it lighted; and yet continue in its repeated Gyrations, vvhile the ſenſe diſcovers not the leaſt footſteps of that præcipitate Rotation.

   1661, Joseph Glanvill, chapter IX, in The Vanity of Dogmatizing: Or Confidence in Opinions. […], London: […] E. C[otes] for Henry Eversden […], →OCLC, pages 80–81

   If a burning Coal be nimbly moved round in a Circle vvith Gyrations continually repeated, the vvhole Circle vvill appear like fire; the reaſon of vvhich is, that the ſenſation of the Coal in the ſeveral places of that Circle remains impreſt on the Senſorium, until the Coal return again to the ſame place.

   1704, I[saac] N[ewton], “[The First Book of Opticks. Part II.] Prop[osition] V. Theo[ry] IV. [Exper[iment] X.]”, in Opticks: Or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light. […], London: […] Sam[uel] Smith, and Benj[amin] Walford, printers to the Royal Society, […], →OCLC, page 104

   If you question a seaman on the subject, whether mere coaster or circumnavigator, he will tell you that in a snow-storm, because of its constant eddyings and gyrations, frequent trimming of sails is more necessary than in any other gale, and that to steer a straight and steady course under such circumstances is for the time simply impossible.

   1881 March, “Snow Storm Gales”, in Symon’s Monthly Meteorological Magazine, volume XVI, number CLXXXII, London: Edward Stanford, […], →OCLC, page 59

   [A] long table of ebony and ivory was unceremoniously cleared of the various objects of art which had been placed on it, and the roulette-wheel was enthroned there instead by the hands of Lady Kenilworth herself, and the little ball was set off on its momentous gyrations.

   1897, Ouida [pseudonym; Maria Louise Ramé], chapter XIV, in The Massarenes, New York, N.Y.: R. F. Fenno & Company […]; London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co., →OCLC, page 182

   Synonyms: circumvolution, spinning, wheeling

   1. alsocountablefigurativelyspecificallyuncountableEuclidean geometryA rotation around an axis which is not the centre of rotational symmetry; an eccentric or off-centre rotation.

      Synonyms: circumvolution, spinning, wheeling

2. countablebiologyOne of the whorls of a spiral univalve shell.
3. countableuncountablemedicineThe arrangement of convolutions of gyri in the cerebral cortex of the brain.