rotary

• POS: Adjective, Noun
• HYPHEN: ro=ta=ry

CIDE DICTIONARY

rotary, a. [L. rota a wheel. See Roll, v., and cf. barouche, Rodomontade, Roué, Round, a., Rowel.].

 Turning, as a wheel on its axis; pertaining to, or resembling, the motion of a wheel on its axis; rotatory; as, rotary motion.  [1913 Webster]

Rotary engine, steam engine in which the continuous rotation of the shaft is produced by the direct action of the steam upon rotating devices which serve as pistons, instead of being derived from a reciprocating motion, as in the ordinary engine; a steam turbine; -- called also rotatory engine. -- Rotary pump, a pump in which the fluid is impelled by rotating devices which take the place of reciprocating buckets or pistons. -- Rotary shears, shears, as for cloth, metal, etc., in which revolving sharp-edged or sharp-cornered wheels do the cutting. -- Rotary valve, a valve acting by continuous or partial rotation, as in the four-way cock.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

rotary, adj. & n.
--adj. acting by rotation (rotary drill; rotary pump).
--n. (pl. -ies)
1 a rotary machine.
2 US a traffic roundabout.
3 (Rotary) (in full Rotary International) a worldwide charitable society of businessmen, orig. named from members entertaining in rotation.

Idiom

Rotary club a local branch of Rotary. rotary-wing (of an aircraft) deriving lift from rotary aerofoils.

Etymology

med.L rotarius (as ROTA)

THESAURUS

rotary

O-shaped, alternate, ambagious, ascending, axial, back, back-flowing, backhanded, backward, beating, carrefour, circling, circuitous, circular, circumgyratory, circumvolutory, cloverleaf, crossing, crosspoint, crossroad, crosswalk, crossway, cyclic, cyclonic, descending, deviating, deviative, devious, digressive, discursive, down-trending, downward, drifting, epochal, even, every other, excursive, flowing, fluent, flying, flyover, going, grade crossing, gulfy, gyral, gyrational, gyratory, gyrostatic, helical, indirect, intercrossing, intermittent, intersection, isochronal, level crossing, meandering, measured, metronomic, mounting, oblique, orbital, oscillatory, out-of-the-way, overcrossing, overpass, passing, periodical, plunging, progressive, pulsing, reciprocal, recurrent, recurring, reflowing, refluent, regressive, retrogressive, rhythmic, rising, rotational, rotatory, round, roundabout, running, rushing, seasonal, serial, sideward, sinking, soaring, spiral, steady, streaming, swirly, tornadic, traffic circle, trochilic, undercrossing, undulant, undulatory, up-trending, upward, vertiginous, viaduct, vortical, wavelike, wheeling, whirlabout, whirligig, whirlwindish, whirlwindy, whirly

ROGET THESAURUS

rotary

Rotation

N rotation, revolution, spinning, gyration, turning about an axis, turning aound an axis, circulation, roll, circumrotation, circumvolution, circumgyration, volutation, circination, turbination, pirouette, convolution, verticity, whir, whirl, eddy, vortex, whirlpool, gurge, countercurrent, Maelstrom, Charybdis, Ixion, cyclone, tornado, whirlwind, dust devil, spin-out, axis, axis of rotation, swivel, pivot, pivot point, axle, spindle, pin, hinge, pole, arbor, bobbin, mandrel, axle shaft, gymbal, hub, hub of rotation, helix, helical motion, angular momentum, angular velocity, revolutions per minute, RPM, centrifugal force, surge, vertigo, dizzy round, coriolus force, carousel, merry-go-round, Ferris wheel, top, dreidel, teetotum, gyroscope, turntable, lazy suzan, screw, whirligig, rollingstone, water wheel, windmill, wheel, pulley wheel, roulette wheel, potter's wheel, pinwheel, gear, roller, flywheel, jack, caster, centrifuge, ultracentrifuge, bench centrifuge, refrigerated centrifuge, gas centrifuge, microfuge, drill, augur, oil rig, wagon wheel, wheel, tire, tyre, trochilics, whirling dervish, rotating, rotary, rotary, circumrotatory, trochilic, vertiginous, gyratory, vortical, vorticose, head over heels, round and round, like a horse in a mill, rotation, revolution, spinning, gyration, turning about an axis, turning aound an axis, circulation, roll, circumrotation, circumvolution, circumgyration, volutation, circination, turbination, pirouette, convolution, verticity, whir, whirl, eddy, vortex, whirlpool, gurge, countercurrent, Maelstrom, Charybdis, Ixion, cyclone, tornado, whirlwind, dust devil, spin-out, axis, axis of rotation, swivel, pivot, pivot point, axle, spindle, pin, hinge, pole, arbor, bobbin, mandrel, axle shaft, gymbal, hub, hub of rotation, helix, helical motion, angular momentum, angular velocity, revolutions per minute, RPM, centrifugal force, surge, vertigo, dizzy round, coriolus force, carousel, merry-go-round, Ferris wheel, top, dreidel, teetotum, gyroscope, turntable, lazy suzan, screw, whirligig, rollingstone, water wheel, windmill, wheel, pulley wheel, roulette wheel, potter's wheel, pinwheel, gear, roller, flywheel, jack, caster, centrifuge, ultracentrifuge, bench centrifuge, refrigerated centrifuge, gas centrifuge, microfuge, drill, augur, oil rig, wagon wheel, wheel, tire, tyre, trochilics, whirling dervish, rotating, rotary, rotary, circumrotatory, trochilic, vertiginous, gyratory, vortical, vorticose, head over heels, round and round, like a horse in a mill.