circus
Pronunciation Noun
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Pronunciation Noun
circus (plural circuses)
- A traveling company of performers that may include acrobats, clowns, trained animals, and other novelty acts, that gives shows usually in a circular tent. [from late 18th c.]
- The circus will be in town next week.
- 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.
- (figurative) A spectacle; a noisy fuss; a chaotic and/or crowded place.
- 2009, Christine Brooks, A Quiet Village (page 81)
- 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.
- 2009, Christine Brooks, A Quiet Village (page 81)
- (historical) In the ancient Roman Empire, a building for chariot racing.
- (military, World War II) 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.
[https://web.archive.org/web/20090302125542/http://rafweb.org/Sqn450-467.htm] - ... the squadron (No. 452) moved to Kenley in July 1941 and took part in the usual round of Circus, Rhubarb and Ramrod missions.
- (obsolete) Circuit; space; enclosure.
- The narrow circus of my dungeon wall.
- Italian: circo
- Portuguese: cruzamento
- Russian: круглый
circus (circuses, present participle circusing; past and past participle circused)
- To take part in a circus; or to be displayed as if in a circus
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.004