Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun An act of turning, coiling, or folding about a center, core, or axis.
- noun A single turn, coil, or fold; a convolution.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The act of rolling around.
- noun The state of being rolled around or wound into a roll.
- noun One of the windings of a thing wound or twisted; a convolution.
- noun Figuratively, a winding; a roundabout method of procedure.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The act of rolling round; the state of being rolled.
- noun A thing rolled round another.
- noun A roundabout procedure; a circumlocution.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun
revolution ,rotation orgyration around anaxis
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the act of turning or winding or folding around a central axis
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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"circumvolution," "presentifick circularity," struggle and sprawl within the narrow room of the Spenserian stanza.
Milton Walter Alexander Raleigh 1891
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Heaven makes in one day and one night one complete circumvolution of 365 degrees.
Lunheng 1962
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Well, I felt queerer and queerer, and Southsea Castle began to spin round and round, and the kickers went dancing up and down, and the ships in the harbour were all turning summersets, and every sort of circumvolution and devilment you could think of took place.
Will Weatherhelm The Yarn of an Old Sailor William Henry Giles Kingston 1847
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Never did a monarch hold so steadfastly to a deadly purpose, or proceed so languidly and with so much circumvolution to his goal.
The Rise of the Dutch Republic — Volume 13: 1567, part II John Lothrop Motley 1845
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Never did a monarch hold so steadfastly to a deadly purpose, or proceed so languidly and with so much circumvolution to his goal.
PG Edition of Netherlands series — Complete John Lothrop Motley 1845
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Never did a monarch hold so steadfastly to a deadly purpose, or proceed so languidly and with so much circumvolution to his goal.
The Rise of the Dutch Republic — Complete (1555-84) John Lothrop Motley 1845
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Never did a monarch hold so steadfastly to a deadly purpose, or proceed so languidly and with so much circumvolution to his goal.
The Rise of the Dutch Republic — Complete (1566-74) John Lothrop Motley 1845
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Its motion is one of rapid circumvolution, rather than of straightforward impulse by rapid and direct effort; it extends its orbit by small continual and hasty movements, but it does not suddenly alter its position.
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Its motion is one of rapid circumvolution, rather than of straightforward impulse by rapid and direct effort; it extends its orbit by small continual and hasty movements, but it does not suddenly alter its position.
Democracy in America — Volume 2 Alexis de Tocqueville 1832
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Tell me, then, for you can, in what periphrasis of language, in what circumvolution of phrase, I shall envelope, yet not conceal, the plain story.
The Letters of Robert Burns Robert Burns 1777
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