Hypertext Webster Gateway: "cycle"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Cycle \Cy"cle\, n.
(a) (Thermodynamics) A series of operations in which heat is
imparted to (or taken away from) a working substance
which by its expansion gives up a part of its internal
energy in the form of mechanical work (or being
compressed increases its internal energy) and is again
brought back to its original state.
(b) (Elec.) A complete positive and negative wave of an
alternating current; one period. The number of cycles
(per second) is a measure of the frequency of an
alternating current.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Cycle \Cy"cle\ (s?"k'l), v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Cycled}. (-k'ld);
p. pr. & vb. n. {Cycling} (-kl?ng).]
1. To pass through a cycle of changes; to recur in cycles.
--Tennyson. Darwin.
2. To ride a bicycle, tricycle, or other form of cycle.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Cycle \Cy"cle\ (s?"k'l), n. [F. ycle, LL. cyclus, fr. Gr.
ky`klos ring or circle, cycle; akin to Skr. cakra wheel,
circle. See {Wheel}.]
1. An imaginary circle or orbit in the heavens; one of the
celestial spheres. --Milton.
2. An interval of time in which a certain succession of
events or phenomena is completed, and then returns again
and again, uniformly and continually in the same order; a
periodical space of time marked by the recurrence of
something peculiar; as, the cycle of the seasons, or of
the year.
Wages . . . bear a full proportion . . . to the
medium of provision during the last bad cycle of
twenty years. --Burke.
3. An age; a long period of time.
Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay.
--Tennyson.
4. An orderly list for a given time; a calendar. [Obs.]
We . . . present our gardeners with a complete cycle
of what is requisite to be done throughout every
month of the year. --Evelyn.
5. The circle of subjects connected with the exploits of the
hero or heroes of some particular period which have served
as a popular theme for poetry, as the legend of Arthur and
the knights of the Round Table, and that of Charlemagne
and his paladins.
6. (Bot.) One entire round in a circle or a spire; as, a
cycle or set of leaves. --Gray.
7. A bicycle or tricycle, or other light velocipede.
{Calippic cycle}, a period of 76 years, or four Metonic
cycles; -- so called from Calippus, who proposed it as an
improvement on the Metonic cycle.
{Cycle of eclipses}, a period of about 6,586 days, the time
of revolution of the moon's node; -- called {Saros} by the
Chaldeans.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
cycle
n 1: an interval during which a recurring sequence of events
occurs; "the neverending cycle of the seasons" [syn: {rhythm},
{round}]
2: a series of poems or songs on the same theme: "schubert's
song cycles"
3: a periodically repeated sequence of events: "a cycle of
reprisal and retaliation"
4: the unit of frequency; one Hertz has a periodic interval of
one second [syn: {Hertz}, {Hz}, {cycle per second}, {cycles/second},
{cps}]
5: a single complete execution of a periodically repeated
phenomenon: "a year constitutes a cycle of the seasons"
6: a shortened version of `bicycle' or `tricycle' or
`motorcycle'
v 1: cause to go through a cycle
2: pass through a cycle; "This machine automatically cycles"
3: ride a motorcycle [syn: {motorcycle}]
4: ride a bicycle [syn: {bicycle}, {bike}, {pedal}, {wheel}]
5: recur in cycles
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