CIRCULAR • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Circular

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/sˈərkjələr/ Listen

adjective

Circular adj.

1.

In the form of, or bounded by, a circle; round.

2.

Repeating itself; ending in itself; reverting to the point of beginning; hence, illogical; inconclusive; as, circular reasoning.

3.

Adhering to a fixed circle of legends; cyclic; hence, mean; inferior. See Cyclic poets, under Cyclic. "Had Virgil been a circular poet, and closely adhered to history, how could the Romans have had Dido?"

4.

Addressed to a circle, or to a number of persons having a common interest; circulated, or intended for circulation; as, a circular letter. "A proclamation of Henry III.,... doubtless circular throughout England."

5.

Perfect; complete. (Obs.) "A man so absolute and circular In all those wished-for rarities that may take A virgin captive."

Circular are, any portion of the circumference of a circle.

Circular cubics (Math.), curves of the third order which are imagined to pass through the two circular points at infinity.

Circular functions. (Math.) See under Function.

Circular instruments, mathematical instruments employed for measuring angles, in which the graduation extends round the whole circumference of a circle, or 360°.

Circular lines, straight lines pertaining to the circle, as sines, tangents, secants, etc.

Circular note or Circular letter.

(a)

(Com.) See under Credit.

(b)

(Diplomacy) A letter addressed in identical terms to a number of persons.

Circular numbers (Arith.), those whose powers terminate in the same digits as the roots themselves; as 5 and 6, whose squares are 25 and 36.

Circular points at infinity (Geom.), two imaginary points at infinite distance through which every circle in the plane is, in the theory of curves, imagined to pass.

Circular polarization. (Min.) See under Polarization.

Circular sailing or Globular sailing (Naut.), the method of sailing by the arc of a great circle.

Circular saw. See under Saw.

noun

Circular n.

1.

A circular letter, or paper, usually printed, copies of which are addressed or given to various persons; as, a business circular.

2.

A sleeveless cloak, cut in circular form.

See images of 'Circular'

Etymology of 'Circular'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Circular" Quotes from Famous Books

... Entering through the sides of the masonry they do not block the passage, which must be as free as possible when any work is to be done on the step-bearing, or lower guide-bearing. Entering the passage in the foundation, a large screw is seen passing up through a circular block of cast iron with a 3/4-inch pipe passing through it. This is the step-supporting screw. It supports the lower half of the step-bearing, which in turn supports the entire revolving part of the machine. It is used ...

— Steam Turbines - A Book of Instruction for the Adjustment and Operation of - the Principal Types of this Class of Prime Movers • Hubert E. Collins

... took out a document in a closed envelope, and handed it to Pilar. He then opened the door, and permitted his followers to enter. They came in in single file, and ranged themselves silently along the wall. They were tall, lean men in great circular Spanish cloaks of brown or bottle-green, defective in the matter of footgear, and with shapeless greasy hats in their ungloved hands. Their deportment was as dignified as if they had been the chapter of a religious order, and every face was turned with an air of contemplative solemnity toward ...

— The Malady of the Century • Max Nordau

... Louisiana, constantly and rapidly increasing in its importance, until it has become a principal product of its soil, in which an immense capital is embarked. We have before us a copy of a "Letter of Mr. Johnston of Louisiana, to the secretary of the treasury, in reply to his circular of the 1st July 1830, relative to the culture of the sugar cane." This interesting document contains a mass of authentic information, which leaves no doubt of the importance of the culture of the cane, not only to those regions ...

— The American Quarterly Review, No. 17, March 1831 • Various

... lifted her brows. She sat upon a semi-circular stone bench, some twenty feet from the wall, and had apparently been reading, for a book lay open in her lap. She now inspected me, with a sort of languid wonder in her eyes, and I returned the scrutiny with unqualified ...

— The Cords of Vanity • James Branch Cabell et al

... rests, in its rigorously scientific method, and in its power of explaining biological phenomena, as was the hypothesis of Copernicus to the speculations of Ptolemy. But the planetary orbits turned out to be not quite circular after all, and, grand as was the service Copernicus rendered to science, Kepler and Newton had to come after him. What if the orbit of Darwinism should be a little too circular? What if species should offer residual phenomena, here and there, not explicable ...

— Lectures and Essays • T.H. Huxley

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