circuit

From Middle English circuit, from Old French circuit, from Latin circuitus (“a going round”), from circuire (“go round”), from circum (“around”) + ire. As a Chinese administrative division, a calque of Chinese 道 (dào) or 路 (lù).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): [ˈsɜː.kɪt]
• (General American) IPA^(key): [ˈsɝ.kət]

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(r)kɪt

circuit (plural circuits)

1. The act of moving or revolving around, or as in a circle or orbit; a revolution
   • 1904, Popular Science Monthly Volume 64 page 33

     After 27 days the moon has made one circuit among the stars, moving from west to east. But in those 27 days the sun has likewise moved eastwardly, about 27 degrees. The moon, then, has to make one circuit and a little more in order to be again in the line joining the earth and sun, in order to be again 'new.'

2. The circumference of, or distance around, any space; the measure of a line around an area.
   • (Can we date this quote?), John Stow, (Please provide the book title or journal name):

     So the circuit or compass of Ireland is 1,800 miles, which is 200 less than Caesar doth reckon or account.

3. That which encircles anything, as a ring or crown.
   • 1590, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part II, Act III, Scene I, line 351:

     And this fell tempest shall not cease to rage Until the golden circuit on my head, Like to the glorious sun's transparent beams, Do calm the fury of this mad-bred flaw.

4. The space enclosed within a circle, or within limits.
   • 1592, William Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis, Stanza 39, line 229:

     "Fondling," she saith, "since I have hemm'd thee here Within the circuit of this ivory pale, I'll be a park, and thou shalt be my deer: Feed where thou wilt, on mountain, or in dale; Graze on my lips; and if those hills be dry, Stray lower, where the pleasant fountains lie."

   • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost:

     A circuit wide enclosed with goodliest trees.

5. (electricity) Enclosed path of an electric current, usually designed for a certain function.
6. A regular or appointed trip from place to place as part of one's job
   • November 25 2016, Jane Cornwell in The Age, Bill Bailey: bird loving joker at the peak of his career

     Having cut his teeth on London's take-no-prisoners comedy circuit he can handle hecklers too, sometimes with musical accompaniment; recent shows see him armed with a veritable chamber orchestra's worth of instruments, all of which he plays.

7. (law) The jurisdiction of certain judges within a state or country, whether itinerant or not.
8. (historical) Various administrative divisions of imperial and early Republican China, including:
   1. The counties at the fringes of the empire, usually with a non-Chinese population, from the Han to the Western Jin.
   2. The 10 or so major provinces of the empire from the Tang to the early Yuan.
   3. Major provincial divisions from the Yuan to early Republican China.
9. (law) Abbreviation of circuit court.
10. (Methodist Church) A district in which an itinerant preacher labors.
11. By analogy to the proceeding three, a set of theaters among which the same acts circulate; especially common in the heyday of vaudeville.
12. (motor racing) A track on which a race in held; a racetrack
    • November 13 2016, Formula 1

      Interlagos is the 24th track Hamilton has won at in F1, which is more than any other driver in history. The only circuit on the current calendar that Hamilton hasn’t won at is Baku, which only joined the schedule this year.

13. (obsolete) circumlocution
    • Huloet

      Thou hast used no circuit of words.

14. (Scientology) A thought that unconsciously goes round and round in a person's mind and controls that person.
15. (graph theory) A closed path, without repeated vertices allowed

• (path or distance around a space): periplus (naval)
• (Imperial Chinese administrative divisions): dao; lu, route (Later Jin to Song); tao (obsolete)

circuit (third-person singular simple present circuits, present participle circuiting, simple past and past participle circuited)

1. (intransitive, obsolete) To move in a circle; to go round; to circulate.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of J. Philips to this entry?)

2. (transitive, obsolete) To travel around.

   Having circuited the air.

• (Balearic, Valencian) IPA^(key): /siɾˈkujt/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /sirˈkujt/

circuit m (plural circuits)

1. circuit

• IPA^(key): /sɪrˈkʋi/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -i

circuit n (plural circuits, diminutive circuitje n)

1. (sports) racetrack

   Synonym: racebaan

2. (physics) electric circuit

   Synonyms: elektrisch circuit, elektrisch netwerk

3. (figuratively) exclusive group of individuals, clique, circle

   Synonyms: kliek, kring

From Latin

• IPA^(key): /siʁ.kɥi/
• Homophone: circuits

circuit m (plural circuits)

1. circuit

• “circuit” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈkir.ku.it/, [ˈkɪr.kʊ.ɪt]

circuit

1. third-person singular present active indicative of circueō

Borrowed from French circuit and Latin circuitus.

circuit n (plural circuite)

1. circuit