Link Centre Dictionary

gyrate

gy·rate

UK/dʒaɪˈɹeɪt/ US/ˈdʒaɪɹeɪt/ uncommon

verb

1.

to wind or move in a spiral course

  • “the muscles and nerves of his fine drawn body were coiling for action”
  • “black smoke coiling up into the sky”
  • “the young people gyrated on the dance floor”
Synonyms
2.

revolve quickly and repeatedly around one''s own axis

  • “The dervishes whirl around and around without getting dizzy”
Synonyms

Origin

Back-formation from gyration, on the basis of -ate (verb-forming suffix), from gyre (“to spin around; to gyrate, to whirl; (rare) to make (something) spin or whirl around; to spin, to whirl”) + -ation (suffix indicating actions or processes), further from Late Middle English giren (“to turn (something) away; to cause (something) to revolve or rotate; to travel in a circle”), from Old French girer (“to turn”), from Latin gȳrō (“to turn in a circle, rotate; to circle or revolve around”), from gȳrus (“circle; circular motion; circuit, course”) + -ō (first conjugation verb-forming suffix), from Ancient Greek γῦρος (gûros, “a circle, a ring”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gew- (“to bend; to curve”). By surface analysis, gyre + -ate (verb-forming suffix).

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.