circus

From Latin circus (“ring, circle”), from Proto-Indo-European *sker, *ker (“to turn, to bend”).[1][2]

• Audio (US)

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• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɜːkəs/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsɝkəs/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)kəs

circus (plural circuses)

1. A traveling company of performers that may include acrobats, clowns, trained animals, and other novelty acts, that gives shows usually in a circular tent. [from late 18th c.]

   The circus will be in town next week.

2. A round open space in a town or city where multiple streets meet.

   Oxford Circus in London is at the north end of Regent Street.

3. (figuratively) A spectacle; a noisy fuss; a chaotic and/or crowded place.
   • 2009, Christine Brooks, A Quiet Village (page 81)

     The village would be turned into a circus over this. He groaned, it was just the sort of case the media had a field day over. He had to get the whole thing sorted fast before anyone got wind of it.

4. (historical) In the ancient Roman Empire, a building for chariot racing.
5. (military, World War II) A code name for bomber attacks with fighter escorts in the day time. The attacks were against short-range targets with the intention of occupying enemy fighters and keeping their fighter units in the area concerned.
   • RAF Web - Air of Authority

     ... the squadron (No. 452) moved to Kenley in July 1941 and took part in the usual round of Circus, Rhubarb and Ramrod missions.

6. (obsolete) Circuit; space; enclosure.
   • Byron

     The narrow circus of my dungeon wall.

• (open space): concourse

• circular
• circle

circus (third-person singular simple present circuses or circusses, present participle circusing or circussing, simple past and past participle circused or circussed)

1. To take part in a circus; or to be displayed as if in a circus

• Curcis, Ruccis

Borrowed from Latin circus.

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɪr.kʏs/

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• Hyphenation: cir‧cus

circus n (plural circussen, diminutive circusje n)

1. circus (company of performers; place where this company performs)

• circusartiest
• circusclown
• circustent

From Ancient Greek κίρκος (kírkos, “circle, ring”), related with κρίκος (kríkos, “ring”).

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈkir.kus/, [ˈkɪr.kʊs]

circus m (genitive circī); second declension

1. a circular line or orbit; circle, ring
2. a racecourse or space where games are held, especially one that is round
3. the spectators in a circus; a circus

Second declension.

• circus in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• circus in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• circus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• circus in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• circus in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin