Noun

(en noun)

(lb) A two-dimensional geometric figure, a line, consisting of the set of all those points in a plane that are equally distant from another point.

:The set of all points (x'', ''y'') such that (x-1)² + y² = r² is a circle of radius ''r around

A two-dimensional geometric figure, a disk, consisting of the set of all those points of a plane at a distance less than or equal to a fixed distance from another point.

Any thin three-dimensional equivalent of the geometric figures.

:

A curve that more or less forms part or all of a circle.

:

Orbit.

A specific group of persons.

:

* (1800-1859)

*:As his name gradually became known, the circle of his acquaintance widened.

*

*:At half-past nine on this Saturday evening, the parlour of the Salutation Inn, High Holborn, contained most of its customary visitors.In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for its own select circle , a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening, for a pipe and a cheerful glass.

*

*:“I don't mean all of your friends—only a small proportion—which, however, connects your circle with that deadly, idle, brainless bunch—the insolent chatterers at the opera, the gorged dowagers,, the jewelled animals whose moral code is the code of the barnyard—!"

*1922 , (Margery Williams), (The Velveteen Rabbit)

*:The Rabbit could not claim to be a model of anything, for he didn’t know that real rabbits existed; he thought they were all stuffed with sawdust like himself, and he understood that sawdust was quite out-of-date and should never be mentioned in modern circles .

(lb) A line comprising two semicircles of 30 yards radius centred on the wickets joined by straight lines parallel to the pitch used to enforce field restrictions in a one-day match.

(lb) A ritual circle that is cast three times deosil and closes three times widdershins either in the air with a wand or literally with stones or other items used for worship.

(lb) A traffic circle or roundabout.

*2011 , Charles E. Webb, Downfall and Freedom , p.120:

*:He arrived at the lakefront and drove around the circle where the amusement park and beach used to be when he was a kid

(lb) Compass; circuit; enclosure.

*(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)

*:in the circle of this forest

(lb) An instrument of observation, whose graduated limb consists of an entire circle. When fixed to a wall in an observatory, it is called a mural circle''; when mounted with a telescope on an axis and in Y's, in the plane of the meridian, a ''meridian'' or ''transit circle''; when involving the principle of reflection, like the sextant, a ''reflecting circle''; and when that of repeating an angle several times continuously along the graduated limb, a ''repeating circle .

A series ending where it begins, and repeating itself.

*(John Dryden) (1631-1700)

*:Thus in a circle runs the peasant's pain.

(lb) A form of argument in which two or more unproved statements are used to prove each other; inconclusive reasoning.

*(Joseph Glanvill) (1636-1680)

*:That heavy bodies descend by gravity; and, again, that gravity is a quality whereby a heavy body descends, is an impertinent circle and teaches nothing.

Indirect form of words; circumlocution.

* (1579-1625)

*:Has he given the lie, / In circle , or oblique, or semicircle.

A territorial division or district.

:

Noun

(en noun)

A crowd; a throng; a multitude or great number of people.

* Francis Bacon

a heap of vassals and slaves

* W. Black

He had heaps of friends.

A pile or mass; a collection of things laid in a body, or thrown together so as to form an elevation.

a heap of earth or stones

* Dryden

Huge heaps of slain around the body rise.

A great number or large quantity of things.

* Bishop Burnet

a vast heap , both of places of scripture and quotations

* Robert Louis Stevenson

I have noticed a heap of things in my life.

(computing) A data structure consisting of trees in which each node is greater than all its children.

* {{quote-news

, year=2012 , date=May 9 , author=Jonathan Wilson , title=Europa League: Radamel Falcao's Atlético Madrid rout Athletic Bilbao , work=the Guardian citation , page= , passage=Every break seemed dangerous and Falcao clearly had the beating of Amorebieta. Others, being forced to stretch a foot behind them to control Arda Turan's 34th-minute cross, might simply have lashed a shot on the turn; Falcao, though, twisted back on to his left foot, leaving Amorebieta in a heap , and thumped in an inevitable finish – his 12th goal in 15 European matches this season.}}