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Spiral   /spˈaɪrəl/   Listen
Spiral

noun
1.
A plane curve traced by a point circling about the center but at increasing distances from the center.
2.
A curve that lies on the surface of a cylinder or cone and cuts the element at a constant angle.  Synonym: helix.
3.
A continuously accelerating change in the economy.
4.
Ornament consisting of a curve on a plane that winds around a center with an increasing distance from the center.  Synonym: volute.
5.
A structure consisting of something wound in a continuous series of loops.  Synonyms: coil, helix, volute, whorl.
6.
Flying downward in a helical path with a large radius.
adjective
1.
In the shape of a coil.  Synonyms: coiling, helical, spiraling, turbinate, volute, voluted, whorled.
verb
1.
To wind or move in a spiral course.  Synonyms: coil, gyrate.  "Black smoke coiling up into the sky" , "The young people gyrated on the dance floor"
2.
Form a spiral.
3.
Move in a spiral or zigzag course.  Synonym: corkscrew.



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inflationary spiral


WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University


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"Spiral" Quotes from Famous Books



... cranny and knot hole, chirping his fine, high-keyed notes, sometimes in a querulous tone, and again in the most cheerful and good-natured temper imaginable, now gliding up a tree trunk, now scudding down head foremost, anon circling in a spiral course. ...
— Our Bird Comrades • Leander S. (Leander Sylvester) Keyser
... rumours became prevalent amongst the men concerning Hunter's condition. He had 'broken his spiral column', he had 'conjunction of the brain', or he had injured his 'innards' and would probably never be able to 'do no more slave-drivin''. Crass—who had helped Mr Rushton to 'price up' several small jobs—began to think it might not be altogether a bad thing ...
— The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists • Robert Tressell
... and his eyes sparkled with delight, as he held up by the line what seemed to be a good-sized fish, of five or six pounds' weight, with a very long brilliantly-coloured eel twined tightly round and round it, in a perfect spiral, several feet in length. ...
— Middy and Ensign • G. Manville Fenn
... the nearest church to where you live, and multiply that height by the necessary number, you will get some idea of the magnitude of this prodigious column. The lightning rod, that came down the side of it in a spiral line, looked like a spider's web that had been, by chance, blown against the chimney ...
— Rollo in Scotland • Jacob Abbott
... propeller of this consisted of a strong centrifugal pump, with vertical axis, actuated by a low pressure engine. This pump sucked water into a perforated channel at the bottom of the boat, and forced it through a spiral pipe to the propelling tubes. These latter consisted of two elbowed pipes issuing from the sides of the vessel and capable of pivoting in the exhaust ports in such a way as to each turn its mouth ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 415, December 15, 1883 • Various


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