circus
nounverbcommon in dialogue
- Canada//ˈsɝkəs//
- Australia//ˈsɜːkəs//
- New Zealand//søːkəs//
- Scotland//sɪɾkəs//
- //seːkəs//
A traveling company of performers that may include acrobats, clowns, trained animals, and other novelty acts, that gives shows usually in a circular tent.
noun
- 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.
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
figurativeA spectacle; a noisy fuss; a chaotic and/or crowded place.
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
datedAn undertaking or arrangement.
"Right you are; I'll put him wise," undertook Nickle briskly. "After all, it's entirely your circus. Shall we stay here and—"
- 5
rareA group of puffins.
The circus of puffins were pictured by Alana Willox who was out on a walk at the Bullers of Buchan in Buchan, Aberdeenshire on Sunday.
A 'CIRCUS' of puffins will take flight to their new perches over the next few days, after their official unveiling at Government House.
- 6
historicalIn the ancient Roman Empire, a building for chariot racing.
- 7
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.
- 8
obsoleteCircuit; space; enclosure.
The narrow circus of my dungeon wall.
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”).
verb
- 1
To take part in a circus; or to be displayed as if in a circus.
Forms
- plural
- circuses, circusses, circi
- past tense
- circused, circussed
- past participle
- circused, circussed
- present participle
- circusing, circussing
- third person singular
- circuses, circusses
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