Hypertext Webster Gateway: "vortex"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Vortex \Vor"tex\, n.; pl. E. {Vortexes}, L. {Vortices}. [L.
vortex, vertex, -icis, fr. vortere, vertere, to turn. See
{Vertex}.]
1. A mass of fluid, especially of a liquid, having a whirling
or circular motion tending to form a cavity or vacuum in
the center of the circle, and to draw in towards the
center bodies subject to its action; the form assumed by a
fluid in such motion; a whirlpool; an eddy.
2. (Cartesian System) A supposed collection of particles of
very subtile matter, endowed with a rapid rotary motion
around an axis which was also the axis of a sun or a
planet. Descartes attempted to account for the formation
of the universe, and the movements of the bodies composing
it, by a theory of vortices.
3. (Zo["o]l.) Any one of numerous species of small
Turbellaria belonging to {Vortex} and allied genera. See
Illustration in Appendix.
{Vortex atom} (Chem.), a hypothetical ring-shaped mass of
elementary matter in continuous vortical motion. It is
conveniently regarded in certain mathematical speculations
as the typical form and structure of the chemical atom.
{Vortex wheel}, a kind of turbine.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
vortex
n 1: the shape of something rotating rapidly [syn: {whirl}, {swirl},
{convolution}]
2: a powerful circular current of water (usually the resulting
of conflicting tides) [syn: {whirlpool}, {maelstrom}]
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