Collins English-English Dictionary

cycle ['saɪk^əl]

1. 1. n a recurring period of time in which certain events or phenomena occur and reach completion or repeat themselves in a regular sequence

2. 2. n a completed series of events that follows or is followed by another series of similar events occurring in the same sequence

3. 3. n the time taken or needed for one such series

4. 4. n a vast period of time; age; aeon

5. 5. n a group of poems or prose narratives forming a continuous story about a central figure or event

   the Arthurian cycle

6. 6. n a series of miracle plays

   the Chester cycle

7. 7. n a group or sequence of songs - See song cycle

8. 8. n short for bicycle tricycle motorcycle

9. 9. n [astronomy] the orbit of a celestial body

10. 10. n a recurrent series of events or processes in plants and animals

    a life cycle

    a growth cycle

    a metabolic cycle

11. 11. n [physics] a 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

12. 12. n one of a series of repeated changes in the magnitude of a periodically varying quantity, such as current or voltage

13. 13. n [computing] a set of operations that can be both treated and repeated as a unit

14. 14. n the time required to complete a set of operations

15. 15. n one oscillation of the regular voltage waveform used to synchronize processes in a digital computer

16. 16. n (in generative grammar) the set of cyclic rules

17. 17. vt. [tr] to process through a cycle or system

18. 18. vi. [intr] to move in or pass through cycles

19. 19. vi. to travel by or ride a bicycle or tricycle

20. 20. vi. [Etymology] C14: from Late Latin cyclus, from Greek kuklos cycle, circle, ring, wheel; see wheel