any complete round or series of occurrences that repeats or is repeated.
a round of years or a recurring period of time, especially one in which certain events or phenomena repeat themselves in the same order and at the same intervals.
any long period of years; age.
a bicycle, motorcycle, tricycle, etc.
a group of poems, dramas, prose narratives, songs etc., about a central theme, figure, or the like: the Arthurian cycle.
Physics.
a sequence of changing states that, upon completion, produces a final state identical to the original one.
one of a succession of periodically recurring events.
a complete alteration in which a phenomenon attains a maximum and minimum value, returning to a final value equal to the original one.
Mathematics. a permutation of a set of elements that leaves the original cyclic order of the elements unchanged.
Computers.
the smallest interval of time required to complete an operation in a computer.
a series of computer operations repeated as a unit.
verb (used without object),cy·cled,cy·cling.
to ride or travel by bicycle, motorcycle, tricycle, etc.
to move or revolve in cycles; pass through cycles.
Idioms for cycle
hit for the cycle, Baseball. (of one player) to hit a single, double, triple, and home run in one game.
Origin of cycle
1350–1400; Middle English cicle<Late Latin cyclus<Greek kýklos cycle, circle, wheel, ring, disk, orb; see wheel
a recurring period of time in which certain events or phenomena occur and reach completion or repeat themselves in a regular sequence
a completed series of events that follows or is followed by another series of similar events occurring in the same sequence
the time taken or needed for one such series
a vast period of time; age; aeon
a group of poems or prose narratives forming a continuous story about a central figure or eventthe Arthurian cycle
a series of miracle playsthe Chester cycle
a group or sequence of songsSee song cycle
short for bicycle, tricycle, motorcycle
astronomythe orbit of a celestial body
a recurrent series of events or processes in plants and animalsa life cycle; a growth cycle; a metabolic cycle
physicsa continuous change or a sequence of changes in the state of a system that leads to the restoration of the system to its original state after a finite period of time
one of a series of repeated changes in the magnitude of a periodically varying quantity, such as current or voltage
computing
a set of operations that can be both treated and repeated as a unit
the time required to complete a set of operations
one oscillation of the regular voltage waveform used to synchronize processes in a digital computer
(in generative grammar) the set of cyclic rules
verb
(tr)to process through a cycle or system
(intr)to move in or pass through cycles
to travel by or ride a bicycle or tricycle
Derived forms of cycle
cycling, noun, adjective
Word Origin for cycle
C14: from Late Latin cyclus, from Greek kuklos cycle, circle, ring, wheel; see wheel