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11 dictionary results for: Cycle
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
cy·cle 
[sahy-kuhl] Pronunciation Key noun, verb, -cled, -cling.
[sahy-kuhl] Pronunciation Key noun, verb, -cled, -cling. –noun
–verb (used without object)
—Idiom
| 1. | any complete round or series of occurrences that repeats or is repeated. |
| 2. | a round of years or a recurring period of time, esp. one in which certain events or phenomena repeat themselves in the same order and at the same intervals. |
| 3. | any long period of years; age. |
| 4. | a bicycle, motorcycle, tricycle, etc. |
| 5. | a group of poems, dramas, prose narratives, songs etc., about a central theme, figure, or the like: the Arthurian cycle. |
| 6. | Physics.
|
| 7. | Mathematics. a permutation of a set of elements that leaves the original cyclic order of the elements unchanged. |
| 8. | Computers.
|
| 9. | to ride or travel by bicycle, motorcycle, tricycle, etc. |
| 10. | to move or revolve in cycles; pass through cycles. |
| 11. | hit for the cycle, Baseball. (of one player) to hit a single, double, triple, and home run in one game. |
[Origin: 1350–1400; ME cicle < LL cyclus < Gk kýklos cycle, circle, wheel, ring, disk, orb; see wheel]
]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
| cy·cle
(sī'kəl) Pronunciation Key
n.
v. cy·cled, cy·cling, cy·cles v. intr.
v. tr. To use in or put through a cycle: cycled the heavily soiled laundry twice; cycling the recruits through eight weeks of basic training. [Middle English, from Late Latin cyclus, from Greek kuklos, circle; see kwel-1 in Indo-European roots.] cy'cler n. |
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
cycle
cycle
1387, from L.L. cyclus, from Gk. kyklos "circle, wheel," from PIE *kwel-, *kwol- "to roll, to move around, wheel" (cf. Skt. cakram "circle, wheel," carati "he moves, wanders;" Avestan caraiti "applies himself," c'axra "chariot, wagon;" Gk. polos "a round axis" (PIE *kw- becomes Gk. p- before some vowels), polein "move around;" L. colere "to frequent, dwell in, to cultivate, move around," cultus "tended, cultivated," hence also "polished," colonus "husbandman, tenant farmer, settler, colonist;" Lith. kelias "a road, a way;" O.N. hvel, O.E. hweol "wheel;" O.Rus., Pol. kolo, Rus. koleso "a wheel"). The verb meaning "to ride a bicycle" is from 1883; cyclist in this sense is from 1882; cyclical is from 1817; cyclorama is from 1840.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
| cycle | |
noun | |
| 1. | an interval during which a recurring sequence of events occurs; "the never-ending cycle of the seasons" |
| 2. | a series of poems or songs on the same theme; "Schubert's song cycles" |
| 3. | a periodically repeated sequence of events; "a cycle of reprisal and retaliation" |
| 4. | the unit of frequency; one hertz has a periodic interval of one second [syn: hertz] |
| 5. | a single complete execution of a periodically repeated phenomenon; "a year constitutes a cycle of the seasons" |
| 6. | a wheeled vehicle that has two wheels and is moved by foot pedals [syn: bicycle] |
verb | |
| 1. | cause to go through a recurring sequence; "cycle the laundry in this washing program" |
| 2. | pass through a cycle; "This machine automatically cycles" |
| 3. | ride a motorcycle [syn: motorbike] |
| 4. | ride a bicycle [syn: bicycle] |
| 5. | recur in repeating sequences |
WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
cycle
(sī'kəl) Pronunciation Key
|
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
cycle cy·cle (sī'kəl)
n.
- An interval of time during which a characteristic, often regularly repeated event or sequence of events occurs.
- A single complete execution of a periodically repeated phenomenon.
- A periodically repeated sequence of events.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Free On-line Dictionary of Computing - Cite This Source - Share This
cycle unit
A basic unit of computation, one period of a computer clock.
Each instruction takes a number of clock cycles. Often the computer can access its memory once on every clock cycle, and so one speaks also of "memory cycles".
Every hacker wants more cycles (noted hacker Bill Gosper describes himself as a "cycle junkie"). There are only so many cycles per second, and when you are sharing a computer the cycles get divided up among the users. The more cycles the computer spends working on your program rather than someone else's, the faster your program will run. That's why every hacker wants more cycles: so he can spend less time waiting for the computer to respond.
The use of the term "cycle" for a computer clock period can probably be traced back to the rotation of a generator generating alternating current though computers generally use a clock signal which is more like a square wave. Interestingly, the earliest mechanical calculators, e.g. Babbage's Difference Engine, really did have parts which rotated in true cycles.
[The Jargon File]
(1997-09-30)
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
Jargon File - Cite This Source - Share This
1. n. The basic unit of computation. What every hacker wants more of (noted hacker Bill Gosper described himself as a "cycle junkie"). One can describe an instruction as taking so many `clock cycles'. Often the computer can access its memory once on every clock cycle, and so one speaks also of `memory cycles'. These are technical meanings of cycle. The jargon meaning comes from the observation that there are only so many cycles per second, and when you are sharing a computer the cycles get divided up among the users. The more cycles the computer spends working on your program rather than someone else's, the faster your program will run. That's why every hacker wants more cycles: so he can spend less time waiting for the computer to respond.
2. By extension, a notional unit of _human_ thought power, emphasizing that lots of things compete for the typical hacker's think time. "I refused to get involved with the Rubik's Cube back when it was big. Knew I'd burn too many cycles on it if I let myself."
3. vt. Syn. {bounce} (sense 4), 120 reset; from the phrase `cycle power'. "Cycle the machine again, that serial port's still hung."
cycle
1. n. The basic unit of computation. What every hacker wants more of (noted hacker Bill Gosper described himself as a "cycle junkie"). One can describe an instruction as taking so many `clock cycles'. Often the computer can access its memory once on every clock cycle, and so one speaks also of `memory cycles'. These are technical meanings of cycle. The jargon meaning comes from the observation that there are only so many cycles per second, and when you are sharing a computer the cycles get divided up among the users. The more cycles the computer spends working on your program rather than someone else's, the faster your program will run. That's why every hacker wants more cycles: so he can spend less time waiting for the computer to respond.
2. By extension, a notional unit of _human_ thought power, emphasizing that lots of things compete for the typical hacker's think time. "I refused to get involved with the Rubik's Cube back when it was big. Knew I'd burn too many cycles on it if I let myself."
3. vt. Syn. {bounce} (sense 4), 120 reset; from the phrase `cycle power'. "Cycle the machine again, that serial port's still hung."
Jargon File 4.2.0
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Cycle
Cy"cle\ (s?"k'l), n. [F. ycle, LL. cyclus, fr. Gr. ky`klos ring or circle, cycle; akin to Skr. cakra wheel, circle. See Wheel.]1. An imaginary circle or orbit in the heavens; one of the celestial spheres. --Milton. 2. An interval of time in which a certain succession of events or phenomena is completed, and then returns again and again, uniformly and continually in the same order; a periodical space of time marked by the recurrence of something peculiar; as, the cycle of the seasons, or of the year. Wages . . . bear a full proportion . . . to the medium of provision during the last bad cycle of twenty years. --Burke. 3. An age; a long period of time. Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay. --Tennyson. 4. An orderly list for a given time; a calendar. [Obs.] We . . . present our gardeners with a complete cycle of what is requisite to be done throughout every month of the year. --Evelyn. 5. The circle of subjects connected with the exploits of the hero or heroes of some particular period which have served as a popular theme for poetry, as the legend of Arthur and the knights of the Round Table, and that of Charlemagne and his paladins. 6. (Bot.) One entire round in a circle or a spire; as, a cycle or set of leaves. --Gray. 7. A bicycle or tricycle, or other light velocipede. Calippic cycle, a period of 76 years, or four Metonic cycles; -- so called from Calippus, who proposed it as an improvement on the Metonic cycle. Cycle of eclipses, a period of about 6,586 days, the time of revolution of the moon's node; -- called Saros by the Chaldeans. Cycle of indiction, a period of 15 years, employed in Roman and ecclesiastical chronology, not founded on any astronomical period, but having reference to certain judicial acts which took place at stated epochs under the Greek emperors. Cycle of the moon, or Metonic cycle, a period of 19 years, after the lapse of which the new and full moon returns to the same day of the year; -- so called from Meton, who first proposed it. Cycle of the sun, Solar cycle, a period of 28 years, at the end of which time the days of the month return to the same days of the week. The dominical or Sunday letter follows the same order; hence the solar cycle is also called the cycle of the Sunday letter. In the Gregorian calendar the solar cycle is in general interrupted at the end of the century.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Cycle
Cy"cle\ (s?"k'l), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Cycled. (-k'ld); p. pr. & vb. n. Cycling (-kl?ng).]1. To pass through a cycle of changes; to recur in cycles. --Tennyson. Darwin. 2. To ride a bicycle, tricycle, or other form of cycle.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Cycle
Cy"cle\, n. (a) (Thermodynamics) A series of operations in which heat is imparted to (or taken away from) a working substance which by its expansion gives up a part of its internal energy in the form of mechanical work (or being compressed increases its internal energy) and is again brought back to its original state. (b) (Elec.) A complete positive and negative wave of an alternating current; one period. The number of cycles (per second) is a measure of the frequency of an alternating current.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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