circus

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a performance given by a traveling company of acrobats, clowns, and trained animals

   the children always love to go to the circus

2. 2
   noun

   a frenetic disorganized (and often comic) disturbance suggestive of a large public entertainment

   it was so funny it was a circus

3. 3
   noun

   an arena consisting of an oval or circular area enclosed by tiers of seats and usually covered by a tent

   they used the elephants to help put up the circus

4. 4
   noun

   A traveling company of performers that may include acrobats, clowns, trained animals, and other novelty acts, that gives shows usually in a circular tent.

   The circus will be in town next week.

5. 5
   noun

   A round open space in a town or city where multiple streets meet.

   Oxford Circus in London is at the north end of Regent Street.

6. 6
   noun

   A spectacle; a noisy fuss; a chaotic and/or crowded place.

   The village would be turned into a circus over this. He groaned, it was just the sort of case the media had a field day over. He had to get the whole thing sorted fast before anyone got wind of it.

7. 7
   noun

   An undertaking or arrangement.

   1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London "Right you are; I'll put him wise," undertook Nickle briskly. "After all, it's entirely your circus. Shall we stay here and—"

8. 8
   noun

   Circuit; space; enclosure.

   The narrow circus of my dungeon wall.

Etymology

From Middle English circus, circo, from Latin circus (“ring, circle”), from Ancient Greek κρίκος (kríkos), κίρκος (kírkos, “ring”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to bend, turn”). Doublet of cirque. Cognate with Old English hring (whence English ring) and Old English hringsetl (“circus”, literally “ring-seat”).