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Webster 1913 Edition

Cyclone

Cy′clone

(s?′kl?n)
,
Noun.
[Gr.[GREEK][GREEK][GREEK][GREEK][GREEK] moving in a circle, p. pr. of [GREEK][GREEK][GREEK][GREEK][GREEK], fr.
κύκλοσ
circle.]
1.
(Meteor.)
A violent storm, often of vast extent, characterized by high winds rotating about a calm center of low atmospheric pressure. This center moves onward, often with a velocity of twenty or thirty miles an hour.
☞ The atmospheric disturbance usually accompanying a cyclone, marked by an onward moving area of high pressure, is called an anticyclone.

Definition 2024

cyclone

cyclone

English

Cyclone Catarina, 2004.

Noun

cyclone ‎(plural cyclones)

  1. A system of winds rotating around a center of low atmospheric pressure.
  2. A low pressure system.
  3. (informal) The more or less violent, small-scale circulations such as tornadoes, waterspouts, and dust devils.
  4. A strong wind.
  5. A Southeastern and Indian Ocean weather phenomenon that results in wind speeds of around 150 to 200 km/h.
  6. A cyclone separator; the cylindrical vortex tube within such a separator

Quotations

  • For usage examples of this term, see Citations:cyclone.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

French

Etymology

From Ancient Greek κυκλῶν ‎(kuklôn), present active participle of κυκλόω ‎(kuklóō, “I encircle”), from κύκλος ‎(kúklos, “circle”)

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /si.klon/

Noun

cyclone m ‎(plural cyclones)

  1. cyclone (rotating system of winds)

Etymology

Coined by Henry Piddington, probably in the 1840s, and based on some term in Ancient Greek. Sources disagree on the date and on which Ancient Greek term, though it had to be something derived from either κύκλος ‎(kúklos, “circle, wheel”) or κυκλόω ‎(kuklóō, “go around in a circle, form a circle, encircle”), for example the present active participle κυκλῶν ‎(kuklôn).

Pronunciation

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