circus
Meanings
noun
- A traveling company of performers that may include acrobats, clowns, trained animals, and other novelty acts, that gives shows usually in a circular tent.
- A round open space in a town or city where multiple streets meet.
- A spectacle; a noisy fuss; a chaotic and/or crowded place.
- An undertaking or arrangement.
- In the ancient Roman Empire, a building for chariot racing.
- 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.
- Circuit; space; enclosure.
verb
- To take part in a circus; or to be displayed as if in a circus.
Pronunciation
Word forms
Etymology
From Middle English circus, circo, from Latin circus (“ring, circle”), from Ancient Greek κρίκος (kríkos), κίρκος (kírkos, “ring”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to bend, turn”). Doublet of cirque. Cognate with Old English hring (whence English ring) and Old English hringsetl (“circus”, literally “ring-seat”).
Related words
Derived words
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.