Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A whirling mass of water or air that sucks everything near it toward its center.
- noun A place or situation regarded as drawing into its center all that surrounds it, and hence being inescapable or destructive.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A whirl of fluid.
- noun Any whirling or gyratory motion; also, a whirlpool.
- noun In the Cartesian philosophy, a collection of material particles, forming a fluid or ether, endowed with a rapid rotatory motion about an axis, and filling all space, by which Descartes accounted for the motions of the universe. This theory attracted much attention at one time, but is now entirely discredited.
- noun [capitalized] [NL.] In zoology, the typical genus of Vorticidæ, containing such species as V. viridis
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A mass of fluid, especially of a liquid, having a whirling or circular motion tending to form a cavity or vacuum in the center of the circle, and to draw in towards the center bodies subject to its action; the form assumed by a fluid in such motion; a whirlpool; an eddy.
- noun (Cartesian System) A supposed collection of particles of very subtile matter, endowed with a rapid rotary motion around an axis which was also the axis of a sun or a planet. Descartes attempted to account for the formation of the universe, and the movements of the bodies composing it, by a theory of vortices.
- noun (Zoöl.) Any one of numerous species of small Turbellaria belonging to Vortex and allied genera. See
Illustration in Appendix. - noun (Chem.) a hypothetical ring-shaped mass of elementary matter in continuous vortical motion. It was conveniently regarded in certain early mathematical models as the typical form and structure of the chemical atom, but is no longer considered a useful model, having been superseded by quantum mechanics.
- noun a kind of turbine.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
whirlwind ,whirlpool , or similarly moving matter in the form of aspiral orcolumn . - noun figuratively Anything that involves constant
violent orchaotic activity around some centre. - noun figuratively Anything which inevitably draws surrounding things into its current.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a powerful circular current of water (usually the result of conflicting tides)
- noun the shape of something rotating rapidly
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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By morning she had slipped back into what she called the vortex, in which she “wrote like a thinking machine in full operation.”
Louisa May Alcott Susan Cheever 2010
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"It took us about two years to build this, what we call a vortex lab, and it is just starting to do some research," he said.
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Backyard designed by Thom Faulders looks like a vortex from the world of Tron.
Fox News apologizes for misrepresenting footage again (link roundup) 2009
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Sometimes, the pull of the vortex is so great that only time and distance can protect you.
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The phenomenon of a 'leading-edge vortex' is known to help insects to fly; this discovery helped to work out how the bumble bee manages to stay airborne.
Boing Boing 2008
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The ozone hole, first recognised in 1985, typically persists until November or December, when the winds surrounding the South Pole (polar vortex) weaken, and ozone-poor air inside the vortex is mixed with ozone-rich air outside it.
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It has recently been shown that if a vortex is created in a rotating vessel containing superfluid 3He (a), the result can critically depend on the temperature.
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2003 - Information for the Public 2003
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According to a pamphlet put out by a group of zoneros from Quebec (sponsored by the Canadian Ministry of Cultural Affairs and the Quebec Museum), the center of this vortex is called the "Vertice de Trino" and is located where the three states of Coahuila, Chihuahua and Durango meet.
The Zone Of Silence of nothern Mexico - scientific marvel or just fiction? 1997
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According to a pamphlet put out by a group of zoneros from Quebec (sponsored by the Canadian Ministry of Cultural Affairs and the Quebec Museum), the center of this vortex is called the "Vertice de Trino" and is located where the three states of Coahuila, Chihuahua and Durango meet.
The Zone Of Silence of nothern Mexico - scientific marvel or just fiction? 1997
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According to a pamphlet put out by a group of zoneros from Quebec (sponsored by the Canadian Ministry of Cultural Affairs and the Quebec Museum), the center of this vortex is called the "Vertice de Trino" and is located where the three states of Coahuila, Chihuahua and Durango meet.
The Zone Of Silence of nothern Mexico - scientific marvel or just fiction? 1997
skipvia commented on the word vortex
Vortexes suck. See Free Associations.
Edit: That should be "vortices." Thanks, mollusque...
February 5, 2008
ruzuzu commented on the word vortex
From the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English:
"A supposed collection of particles of very subtile matter, endowed with a rapid rotary motion around an axis which was also the axis of a sun or a planet. Descartes attempted to account for the formation of the universe, and the movements of the bodies composing it, by a theory of vortices."
And from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia:
"In the Cartesian philosophy, a collection of material particles, forming a fluid or ether, endowed with a rapid rotatory motion about an axis, and filling all space, by which Descartes accounted for the motions of the universe. This theory attracted much attention at one time, but is now entirely discredited."
July 2, 2018
qms commented on the word vortex
Many years ago I saw a notice of a talk to be given at MIT: “Viscous Vortices on the Vertical Verges of Variable Velocity Vessels.” I did not attend but I have wondered since if the speaker had anything substantive to say on the subject or just could not resist alliteration.
July 3, 2018
ruzuzu commented on the word vortex
Ha! The first time I read that, I thought it said "vicious."
July 3, 2018