From Middle English cicle, from Late Latin cyclus, from Ancient Greek κύκλος, from grk-pro , *kʷókʷlos, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷékʷlos.

• (RP, America) IPA: /ˈsaɪ.kəl/, [ˈsaɪ.kl̩]
• (Australia) IPA: /ˈsɑɪ.kəl/, [ˈsɑɪ.kl̩]

cycle (plural cycles)

1. An interval of space or time in which one set of events or phenomena is completed.

   the cycle of the seasons, or of the year

   • 1795 November (date written), Edmund Burke, Thoughts and Details on Scarcity, […], London: […] [T. Gillet] for F[rancis] and C[harles] Rivington, […]; and J[ohn] Hatchard, […], published 1800, →OCLC ↗, page 6 ↗:

     VVages have been tvvice raiſed in my time, and they bear a full proportion, or even a greater than formerly, to the medium of proviſion during the laſt bad cycle of tvventy years.

2. A complete rotation of anything.
3. A process that returns to its beginning and then repeats itself in the same sequence.

   electoral cycle    menstrual cycle    news cycle

4. The members of the sequence formed by such a process.
5. (music) In musical set theory, an interval cycle is the set of pitch classes resulting from repeatedly applying the same interval class to the starting pitch class.

   The interval cycle C4 consists of the pitch classes 0, 4 and 8; when starting on E, it is realised as the pitches E, G# and C.

6. A series of poems, songs or other works of art, typically longer than a trilogy.

   The "Ring of the Nibelung" is a cycle of four operas by Richard Wagner.

7. A programme on a washing machine, dishwasher, or other such device.

   Put the washing in on a warm cycle.

   the spin cycle

8. A pedal-powered vehicle, such as a unicycle, bicycle, or tricycle, or a motorized vehicle that has either two or three wheels.

   Hyponyms: motorbike, motorcycle, unicycle, bicycle, tricycle, motortrike

9. (baseball) A single, a double, a triple, and a home run hit by the same player in the same game.

   Jones hit for the cycle in the game.

10. (graph theory) A closed walk or path, with or without repeated vertices allowed.
11. (topology, algebraic topology) A chain whose boundary is zero.
12. An imaginary circle or orbit in the heavens; one of the celestial spheres.
    • 1667, John Milton, “(please specify the page number)”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC ↗:

      With centric and eccentric scribbled o'er, Cycle and epicycle, orb in orb

13. An age; a long period of time.
    • 1835, Alfred Tennyson, “Locksley Hall”, in Poems. […], volume II, London: Edward Moxon, […], published 1842, →OCLC ↗, page 110 ↗:

      Thro' the shadow of the world we sweep into the younger day: / Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay.

14. An orderly list for a given time; a calendar.
    • 1664, J[ohn] E[velyn], “Kalendarium Hortense: Or, The Gard’ners Almanac; […] [Introduction to the Kalendar.].”, in Sylva, or A Discourse of Forest-trees and the Propagation of Timber in His Majesties Dominions. […], London: […] Jo[hn] Martyn, and Ja[mes] Allestry, printers to the Royal Society, […], →OCLC ↗, page 56 ↗:

      [H]ere we endeavour to preſent our Gard'ners with a compleat Cycle of what is requiſite to be done throughout every Moneth of the Year: […]

15. (botany) One entire round in a circle or a spire.
16. (weaponry) A discharge of a taser.
17. (aviation) One take-off and landing of an aircraft, referring to a pressurisation cycle which places stresses on the fuselage.
18. (sports) A scheduled period of time of weeks or months wherein a performance-enhancing substance or, by extension, supplement is applied, to be followed by another one where it is not or the dosage is lower.

    The deterioration of his physique may be a result of his being off cycle.

• bicycle
• cycle clip
• cycle lane
• cycle path

• cycle rack
• cycle rickshaw
• cycle track
• cycleway
• motorcycle
• quadricycle
• tricycle
• unicycle

• German: Zyklus

• French: tour
• German: Zyklus
• Italian: ciclo
• Portuguese: ciclo
• Russian: цикл
• Spanish: ciclo

• French: cycle
• German: Zyklus
• Italian: ciclo
• Portuguese: ciclo
• Russian: цикл
• Spanish: ciclo

• German: Zyklus
• Russian: цикл

• French: cycle
• German: Programm
• Italian: ciclo, programma
• Portuguese: ciclo
• Russian: цикл

• German: Zyklus
• Italian: ciclo

cycle (cycles, present participle cycling; simple past and past participle cycled)

1. To ride a bicycle or other cycle.
2. To go through a cycle or to put through a cycle.
3. (electronics) To turn power off and back on

   Avoid cycling the device unnecessarily.

4. (ice hockey) To maintain a team's possession of the puck in the offensive zone by handling and passing the puck in a loop from the boards near the goal up the side boards and passing to back to the boards near the goal

   They have their cycling game going tonight.

• recycle

• French: faire du vélo, véloter, biker
• German: Rad fahren, radfahren
• Portuguese: andar de bicicleta
• Russian: ездить на велосипед