gyrate

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Back-formation from gyration[1] + English -ate (suffix meaning ‘to act [in the specified manner]’). Gyration is derived from gyre (“to spin around; to gyrate, to whirl; (rare) to make (something) spin or whirl around; to spin, to whirl”) +‎ -ation (suffix indicating actions or processes).[2] Gyre is from Late Middle English giren (“to turn (something) away; to cause (something) to revolve or rotate; to travel in a circle”),[3] from Old French girer (“to turn”), and directly from its etymon Latin gȳrāre,[4] the present active infinitive of gȳrō (“to turn in a circle, rotate; to circle or revolve around”) (from gȳrus (“circle; circular motion; circuit, course”), from Ancient Greek γῦρος (gûros, “a circle, a ring”), from Proto-Indo-European *gew- (“to bend; to curve”)) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs).

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

gyrate (third-person singular simple present gyrates, present participle gyrating, simple past and past participle gyrated)

  1. (intransitive) To revolve round a central point; to move spirally about an axis, as a tornado.
    The stripper gyrated sexily around a pole.

Translations[edit]

Adjective[edit]

gyrate (comparative more gyrate, superlative most gyrate)

  1. (biology) Having coils or convolutions.

Translations[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ “gyrate, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  2. ^ “gyration, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2020; “gyration, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022; Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “gyration”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
  3. ^ “ǧīren, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  4. ^ Compare “gyrate, v.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, September 2019; and “gyre, v.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2020; “gyre, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Latin[edit]

Verb[edit]

gȳrāte

  1. second-person plural present active imperative of gȳrō
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