Forms: 1–2 circul, 3–6 cercle, 4–6 sercle, cerkle, (also 4 cercul(l, 4–5 cerkil, serkle, serkel(e, 5 ceercle, cer-, serkyll(e, 6 serkell, cirkle, cyrcle, 7 circel); 6– circle. [In OE. circul (in Astronomy, sense 2), a. L. circul-us; in ME. cercle, a. F. cercle:—L. circul-us, dim. of circ-us (in Gr. also κίρκος, κρίκος) a round, a ring. From the 16th c. altered to circle under influence of the L.]
I. As a figure or appearance.
1. A perfectly round plane figure. In Geom. defined as a plane figure bounded by a single curved line, called the circumference, which is everywhere equally distant from a point within, called the center. But often applied to the circumference alone, without the included space.
To square the circle: to find a square of the same area as a given circle (a famous problem, incapable of geometrical solution). See SQUARE, QUADRATURE.
c. 1305. Edmund Conf., 232, in E. E. P. (1862), 77. Þreo rounde cerclen heo wrot: in þe paume amidde.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 173. A sparke of fire, turnede aboute in derke nyȝte, semes to make cercul.
1413. Lydg., Pylgr. Sowle, V. (1859), 70. In the circumference of eueriche of these cercles was sette a lytel Cercle.
1483. Cath. Angl., 56. Half a Cerkylle, semicirculus.
1571. Digges, Pantom., III. xi. S, Their circumferences or circles.
1589. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, II. xi. [xii.] (Arb.), 111. The beame is a line stretching directly from the circle to the center, and contrariwise from the center to the circle.
1591. Shaks., 1 Hen. VI., I. ii. 133. Glory is like a Circle in the Water, Which neuer ceaseth to enlarge it selfe.
1665. Boyle, Occas. Refl., V. x. (1675), 338. Archimedes … was so busie in tracing his Circles.
1796. Hutton, Math. Dict., I. 284/2. The circumference or periphery itself is called the circle, though improperly, as that name denotes the space contained within the circumference.
1851. Ruskin, Mod. Paint., II. III. I. vi. § 11. The resulting curve, the circle, is … the least beautiful of all curves.
1877. E. R. Conder, Bas. Faith, ii. 67. A circle whose centre is everywhere and its circumference nowhere.
1884. Bower & Scott, De Bary’s Phaner. & Ferns, 276. These twelve bundles would be arranged in a circle if they had a radially perpendicular course.
b. In a vaguer and more general sense.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., I. 250. Þat heering shulde be in a sercle, bifore men and bihinde men, and on ech side of men.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 1658. There were bordis full bright aboute in þat sale, Set in a cercle, of Sedur tre fyn.
1647–51. Cleveland, Poems, 45. When he would lie down, he wheels about; Makes circles, and is couchant in a ring.
1713. Johnson, Guardian, No. 1, ¶ 1. Inclosed in a circle of foliages.
1842. Tennyson, Gardener’s D., 211. Love … in the circle of his arms Enwound us both.
1877. Bryant, Among Trees, 31. The mightiest with their circles of strong roots.
2. spec. a. Astr.
Circle of altitude: a small circle parallel to the horizon, having its pole in the zenith; an almacantar.
Circle of curvature (see CURVATURE).
Circle of declination: a great circle passing through the poles of the celestial equator.
Circle of illumination: a circle passing through the center of a planet perpendicular to a line drawn from the sun to the planet, and so separating its illuminated and unilluminated hemispheres.
Circle of latitude: (a.) on the celestial sphere, a great circle perpendicular to the plane of the ecliptic; (b.) on the terrestrial sphere, a meridian on which latitude is measured; also used = parallel of latitude.
Circle of longitude: (a.) on the celestial sphere, a small circle parallel to the ecliptic; (b.) on the terrestrial sphere = parallel of latitude.
Circle of perpetual apparition: that circle around the elevated celestial pole at any place, within which the stars never set.
Circle of perpetual occultation: that circle around the depressed pole, within which the stars never rise.
Circle of position (see POSITION).
Diurnal circle: the circle described by a heavenly body in its apparent diurnal rotation round the earth.
Great circle (of a sphere): a circle on the surface of a sphere, whose plane passes through the center; small circle, any circle on the surface of a sphere, whose plane does not pass through the center.
Horary circles: the lines marking the hours on a sundial. (See also 11 a.)
Polar circle: a circle parallel to the equator, at a distance from either pole equal to the greatest declination of the ecliptic.
Vertical circle: a great circle perpendicular to the horizon.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., III. 238. Þar ðæs emnihtes circul is ʓeteald. Ibid., III. 244. Þone miclan circul zodiacum.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., VIII. vii. (1495), 305. There is a South Cercle of heuen that markyth that parte of the cercle that hyghte Zodiacus.
1553. Eden, Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.), 32. Beyond ye circle called Tropicus Capricorni.
1570. Levins, Manip., 142/23. The circle of Cancer, tropicus cancri. Ibid., 142/27. The cirkle equinoctial.
1556. Recorde, The Castle of Knowledge, 91. The climates may well be accompted 48 betwene the twoo polare circles.
1594. Blundevil, Exerc., III. I. ix. (ed. 7), 292. The lesser Circles … the two Tropiques, and the two polar Circles. Ibid., III. i. xvi. 309. What be Colures? They be great movable Circles passing thorow both the Poles of the World, which the Astronomers do otherwise call circles of declination.
1752. Johnson, Rambler, No. 197, ¶ 11. The seamen … would talk of longitude and latitude and circles and tropicks.
1774. M. Mackenzie, Maritime Surv., 58. When the Star approaches near to the Plumb-lines on the other side of its diurnal Circle.
1834. Nat. Philos., III. Math. Geog., ii. (Usef. Knowl. Ser.), 5/2. Meridians are also called circles of latitude, because upon them the latitudes of places are measured. Ibid., Navig., III. 27. Great circles … passing through the zenith of any place, are called vertical circles.
b. Naut. Great circle sailing: navigation along the arc of a great circle of the earth.
1594. J. Davis, Seaman’s Secr. (1607), 1. Great Circle navigation, which teacheth how upon a great Circle drawn between any two places assigned … the Ship may bee conducted.
1652. H. Philipps, Geom. Seaman, 48. You may sail by the arch of a great Circle.
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1789), s.v. Order of Sailing, Hence we say … parallel and great circle sailing.
c. 1850. Rudim. Navig. (Weale), 50. In 1561, Cortez … advocated the adoption of Great Circle Sailing, in opposition to that by Plumb-lines.
3. As a figure of magic or necromancy.
1529. More, Dial. Heresyes, I. Wks. 120/1. Negromancers put their trust in their cercles, within which thei thinke them self sure against all ye deuils in hel.
1599. Shaks., Hen. V., V. ii. 320. If you would coniure in her, you must make a Circle. Ibid. (1600), A. Y. L., II. v. 62. ’Tis a Greeke inuocation, co call fools into a circle.
1709. Strype, Ann. Ref., I. xii. 164. Many did use enchantments, invocations, circles, witchcrafts, soothsaying.
1717. Bullock, Wom. a Riddle, IV. i. (1729), 55. I believe you’d raise the Devil to obtain a Circle.
1768–74. Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1852), II. 419. The magic circle of passion whirling them perpetually in a giddy round of unavailing trifles.
4. a. formerly, The sphere or ‘heaven’ in which a heavenly body was supposed to revolve. b. now, The orbit of a planet or other body.
a. 1340. Hampole, Pr. Consc., 7640. Oboven us er alle þe planetes seven, And þe cercle of ilk ane es called ane heven.
1340. Ayenb., 141. Ase he [saturne] deþ ine þritti yer ine his oȝene sercle and ine his oȝene yernnge.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 4038. The sun in his serkyll set in þe last, Passyng fro pisshes.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 186. Ye … sterres hath … an other [motion] by the mouyng of the fyrst orbe whiche draweth them with him in his circle euery day.
1568. Grafton, Chron., II. 746. Hee thought the Sunne, would soner have fallen from his circle.
1611. Bible, Wisd., xiii. 2. The swift aire, or the circle of the stars.
1842. Tennyson, Love & Duty, 23. The Sun will run his orbit, and the Moon Her circle.
1849. Grote, Greece (1862), V. II. lx. 276. Thrice nine days, a full circle of the moon.
5. The orb of a heavenly body.
[(?) 1667. Milton, P. L., IV. 578. Amid the Suns bright circle where thou sitst.]
1769. Horne, Fatal Discov., IV. Sunk in the western wave, The Sun but half his glorious circle shews.
1821. Byron, Cain, II. i. 29. Yon small blue circle, swinging in far ether.
6. A luminous ring in the sky, a halo.
Circle of Ulloa: a luminous ring or white rainbow sometimes appearing in alpine regions opposite the sun during foggy weather (named after Antonio Ulloa in 18th c.)
a. 1123. O. E. Chron., an. 1104. On þam Tiwæs dæʓe þæræfter ætywdan feower circulas … Onbutan þære sunnan hwites hiwes.
1655. Fulke, Meteors, III. 37. Such Meteors, whose matter is most of the Air. Of this sort be … Circles, Rainbowes, [etc.]. Ibid., III. 73. The Circle called Halon is a garland of divers colours that is seen about the Sunne, the Moon, or any other Star. Ibid., III. 75. A great circle about the Moon, betokeneth great cold and frost to follow after.
1815. T. Forster, Researches Atmosph. Phen., 99.
7. Applied to ring-like markings; e.g., to fairy-rings. White circle: old name of the Milky way.
1596. Nashe, Saffron Walden, O iv. More … creases … in his face than there be fairie circles on Salsburie Plaine.
1655. Fulke, Meteors, III. 37. The White Circle, called of some Watling street. Ibid., 81. The milke way is a white circle seen in a cleare night. Ibid., V. 151. Those round Circles which are seen in many fields, that ignorant People affirm to be the rings of the Fairies dances.
a. 1799. Withering, in Phil. Trans., XCVII. 135. The bare and brown, or highly cloathed and verdant circles in pasture fields called Fairy-rings.
† 8. Med. The highest ‘region’ of urine. Obs.
1533. Elyot, Cast. Helthe (1541), 87 b. In urine, being in a vessell apt therunto to be sene, are thre regions…. The hyghest region is the cerkle.
1625. Hart, Anat. Ur., I. i. 51. If they compasse and enuiron but the halfe of the circle or garland, then do they argue a paine in one side of the head.
II. As a thing material.
9. A ring, circlet, annulet.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 8242. Aboute þat tre A siluer cerkil sone naylede he.
1382. Wyclif, Prov. xi. 22. A goldene cercle in the nose thirlis … of a souwe.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., VI. xiv. 86. A cerkil was Sene … as of Bras.
10. A band encircling the head; a crown, coronet, diadem.
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter xx. 3. Þe whilk ere about him til his fairehed, as a cercle in a mannys heued.
1460. Lybeaus Disc., 841. A sercle upon her molde, Of stones and of golde.
1595. Shaks., John, V. i. 2. Thus haue I yeelded vp into your hand The Circle of my glory [Giues Pand. the Crowne.]
1600. Dekker, Fortunatus, Wks. (1873), 93. These browes fill up the golden circle of rich Portugall.
1661. Evelyn, Diary (1827), II. 166. The Barons put off their caps and circles.
1716–8. Lady M. W. Montague, Lett., I. xxxii. 11. The headdress is … bound on … with a circle of diamonds.
1800. Coleridge, Piccolom., III. i. In his dream of hope he grasps already The golden circle.
† b. A band or wreath surmounting or encircling a knight’s helmet. Obs.
c. 1314. Guy Warw. (A.), 3857. A helme he haþ on him don … The sercle of golde þer-on was wrouȝt.
c. 1380. Sir Ferumb., 1600. Þe cercles þat were on hur helmes set, of perre y-mad & golde.
c. 1450. Merlin, xiv. 220. He made sheeldes shiver fro nekkes, and helmes from hedes, that the serkeles fly a-sonder.
a. 1533. Ld. Berners, Huon, ix. 24. He stroke Charlot on the helme in suche wyse that the serkell nor coyfe of stele cowd not defende hym.
11. a. The ring of a circus. b. One of the galleries or tiers of seats in a theater; the lowest, containing the most expensive seats, is called the dress circle; that above, the upper or family circle.
1623. W. Sclater, Tythes Revised, 184. Thou shalt not goe to the Circle or Theatre.
1768. Lady M. W. Montague, Poems (1785), 25. Plays, operas, circles I no more must view!
1836–9. Dickens, Sk. Boz, Private Theatres. Whose partially corked eyebrows, and half-rouged face, testify to the fact of his having just left the stage or the circle.
1878. J. Parton, in N. Amer. Rev., CXXVII. 484. There they [East Indians] sit in splendid array, in the dress-circle, close to the royal box, and no one objects.
12. Archæol. A series of stones set up in a ring, such as those at Avebury and Stonehenge.
1772. Pennant, Tours Scotl. (1774), 180. These circles were formed for religious purposes.
1839. Yeowell, Anc. Brit. Ch., xii. (1847), 136. A large block of hewn granite such as the Druids used for forming their circles.
1861. Sat. Rev., 7 Sept., 253. The well-known Druidical circle of Arborlow.
1879. Lubbock, Sci. Lect., vi. 172. The venerable circle of Abury, perhaps the most interesting of our great national monuments.
13. The name of various instruments.
a. Astr. An instrument of observation, the graduated limb of which consists of an entire circle, as mural circle, reflecting c., repeating c., transit c. (see MURAL, etc.). Also, horary circle, a metal circle on a globe, marked with the hours, and shewing the difference of meridians in time.
b. in Bookbinding: (see quot.)
1837. Whittock, Bk. Trades (1842), 37. The letters and ornaments are engraved in relievo on the points of punches or on the edges of circles of brass.
14. Anat.
Circles of Haller: the fibro-cartilaginous rings to which the mitral and tricuspid valves of the heart are attached.
Circle of Willis: see quot.
1840. G. Ellis, Anat., 20. By the anastomosis of the internal carotid and basilar arteries at the base of the brain, they give rise to an arterial circle … named the circle of Willis.
† 15. See quot. and SNAIL. Obs.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 66. Cercle, clepyd the snayle, as of Pentys, and other lyke, spira.
III. In transferred and figurative senses.
16. The circuit or compass of a place, etc.
a. 1400. Pistel of Susan, 10. Withinne þe sercle of sees.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 11682. Hit is keppit … Within the cercle of the Cité.
c. 1440. Gesta Rom., xix. 65. How many daies iourney beth in þe sercle of the world?
1595. Shaks., John, V. ii. 136. To whip this dwarfish warre, this Pigmy Armes From out the circle of his Territories.
1666. Evelyn, Mem. (1857), II. 14. The poor inhabitants were dispersed about St. George’s Fields, and Moorfields, as far as Highgate, and several miles in circle.
17. A completed revolution or course of time, or of action, or events in time; a cycle, period.
b. ‘Any series ending as it begins, and perpetually repeated’ (J.); a round.
c. 1400. Apol. Loll., 77. If ani be in possessioun of oþer mennis þingis by a cercle of ȝeris, he shal ioi it as his oune.
1562. Turner, Baths, 6 a. I heare saye that in diuers circles or goynges aboute of yeares, the nature of the bathes is sharper.
a. 1656. Bp. Hall, Breathings Devout Soul (1851), 178. Lord God, what a wearisome circle do I walk in here below!
1689–90. Temple, Ess. Learn., Wks. 1731, I. 159. Science and Arts have run their Circles, and had their Periods in the several Parts of the World.
1738. Wesley, Hymns, ‘Infinite Power, Eternal Lord.’ And hit the Hours obedient run The Circle of the Day.
1874. Sayce, Compar. Philol. viii. 286. The circle of the year.
c. So in phr. full circle, quite round.
1605. Shaks., Lear, V. iii. 174. The Wheele is come full circle [Qq. circled], I am heere.
1878. Browning, La Saisiaz, 70. Thus have we come back full circle.
18. A completed chain, series or sequence of parts forming a connected whole.
1531. Elyot, Gov., I. xiii. The worlde of science, [or] the circle of doctrine, whiche is in one worde of greke Encyclopedia.
1712. Addison, Spect., No. 293, ¶ 3. If I thought the whole Circle of our Being was concluded between our Births and Deaths.
1759. B. Martin, Nat. Hist. Eng., I. 71. That nothing might be wanting to compleat the Circle of Pleasures in this City.
1854. (title) Orr’s Circle of the Sciences: A Series of Treatises on the Principles of Science.
1856. Dove, Logic Chr. Faith, VI. § 1. 336. Every problem with its solution forms, when solved, a circle.
1869. J. Martineau, Ess., II. 155. The luminous circle of demonstrative truth.
19. Logic. A fallacious mode of reasoning, wherein a proposition is used to establish a conclusion, and afterwards proved by means of the conclusion which it has been employed to establish; so that, as in a circle, there is really no starting-point. Hence to reason or argue in a circle.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., I. iv. (1686), 11. The Circle of this fallacy is very large.
1647. H. More, Song of Soul, I. II. lxxx. You dispute in a Circle as all Logicians know.
1659. South, Serm., I. 101. This he explodes as a Circle, and so derides it.
1724. Watts, Logic (1736), 315. That Sort of Fallacy which is called a Circle is very near akin to the Petitio Principii.
1837. Whately, Logic, 225. Arguing in a circle must necessarily be unfair, though it is frequently practised undesignedly.
1876. E. Mellor, Priesth., iv. 161. The authority of the law is demanded, and he [Cardinal Wiseman] cites the disputed passage. A more palpable and vicious circle was never devised.
20. A number of persons standing or seated round a person or object of interest; ‘an assembly surrounding the principal person’ (J.), as at Court, at a Drawing-room or Levée, etc.
1714. Lond. Gaz., No. 5271/2. The Queen has had a Circle every Evening.
1766. Fordyce, Serm. Yng. Wom. (1767), I. i. 35. Casting … maternal regards … through the pretty smiling circle.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., III. 291. A splendid circle of English nobles and statesmen stood round the throne.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), I. 49. There was also a circle of lookers on.
21. A number of persons united by acquaintance, common sentiments, interests, etc.; a ‘set’ or coterie; a class or division of society, consisting of persons who associate together.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., I. ix. (1686), 26. I shall have reason and experience of every Circle to support me.
1752. Fielding, Covent Gard. Jrnl., 9 May. He quotes the phrases ‘a polite circle,’ ‘the circle of one’s acquaintance,’ ‘people that live within a certain circle.’
1793. Boswell, Johnson, Pref. ed. 2. The felicity which he diffused through a wide circle of admirers and friends.
1796. Jane Austen, Pride & Prej., ix. Threw a real gloom over their domestic circle. Ibid., xviii. It is evident that you belong to the first circles.
1878. Black, Green Past., II. 16. Don’t you think that one ought to try to understand what is going on outside one’s immediate circle?
1880. L. Stephen, Pope, viii. 195. The staple talk of the circles in which he moved.
1885. Manch. Exam., 12 Aug., 5/4. The death of Lord Houghton … will leave a blank in political, social, and literary circles.
22. Hist. A territorial division of Germany under the Holy Roman Empire. Also a secondary division in certain German and Slavonic provinces. [G. Kreis, F. cercle.]
1675. Lond. Gaz., No. 980/2. 400 Men of the Circle of Saxony. Ibid., No. 1040/2. The Troops of the Circles have already passed the Rhine.
1700. J. A. Astry, trans. Saavedra’s Royal Pol., I. Pref. The most Serene House and Circle of Burgundy.
1712. Lond. Gaz., No. 4993/1. Those of the Electoral Circle of the Rhine are met.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., II. 347. The Austrian Netherlands … were considered as a circle of the empire.
1865. Baring-Gould, Were-wolves, xiv. 239. In the circle of Tornow, in Western Galicia—the province is divided into nine circles.
23. A non-material region or realm marked off, as a circle is by its circumference; the area over which anything is conceived of as acting or exerting influence. Cf. sphere.
1664. Power, Exp. Philos., Pref. 17. To be within the circle of possibilities.
1752. Johnson, Rambler, No. 196, ¶ 7. If he adventures into the circle of action.
1850. Mrs. Browning, Drama of Exile. The circle of God’s life Contains all life beside.
1851. D. Jerrold, St. Giles, xv. 149. Whether it was in the circle of probability for one so respectably born and bred, to shed the blood of his own relation.
1878. Browning, La Saisiaz, 13. All around Nature, and inside her circle.
† 24. Phr. To give the lie in circle: i.e., circuitously, indirectly. Obs.
1610. B. Jonson, Alch., III. iv. Face. Rules To give and take the Lie by. Kas. How? to take it? Face. Yes, in Oblique he’ll shew you, or in Circle, But never in Diameter.
c. 1616. Fletcher, Queen Corinth, IV. i. Has he given the lye In circle or oblique, or semicircle, Or direct parallel?
25. attrib. and Comb., as circle-parade, -squarer, -squaring; circle-branching, -like, -spread, adjs.; circle-iron (see quot.); † circle-mure v. = CIRCUMMURE; circle-tomb (see quot.: cf. 12).
1600. S. Nicholson, Acolastus (1876), 35. A *circle-braunching tree.
1874. Knight, Amer. Mech. Dict., *Circle-iron, a hollow punch for cutting planchets, wads, wafers, and circular blanks; the fifth wheel of a carriage.
a. 1420. Occleve, De Reg. Princ., 184. *Cerclelyk shappe is most perfite figure.
1567. Maplet, Gr. Forest, 39. Crowtoe … His roote *circlelike or round.
1606. Breton, Ourania, I ij a. *Circle-muring strong their pettie fort With Pallazado Flanker Loop and Porte.
1809. Roland, Fencing, 43. On the Use of the *Circle Parade.
1632. Lithgow, Trav. (1682), 185. Their *circle-spred tops.
1859. Sala, Gaslight & D., xvi. 174. So with the *circle-squarers, perpetual motion discoverers.
1889. Athenæum, 4 May, 576/1. In one of the *circle-tombs peculiar to the necropolis of that place [Vetulonia] (so called because surrounded by a rude stone circle).
