cycle

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a periodically repeated sequence of events

   a cycle of reprisal and retaliation

2. 2
   noun

   a series of poems or songs on the same theme

   Schubert's song cycles

3. 3
   noun

   an interval during which a recurring sequence of events occurs

   the never-ending cycle of the seasons

4. 4
   verb

   to pass through a cycle

   This machine automatically cycles

5. 5
   verb

   to cause to go through a recurring sequence

   cycle the laundry in this washing program

6. 6
   noun

   a single complete execution of a periodically repeated phenomenon

   a year constitutes a cycle of the seasons

7. 7
   noun

   An interval of space or time in which one set of events or phenomena is completed.

   the cycle of the seasons, or of the year

8. 8
   noun

   A process that returns to its beginning and then repeats itself in the same sequence.

   electoral cycle    menstrual cycle    news cycle

Etymology

From Middle English cicle (“fixed length period of years”), from Late Latin cyclus, from Ancient Greek κύκλος (kúklos, “circle”), from Proto-Hellenic *kúklos, *kʷókʷlos, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷékʷlos (“circle, wheel”). Doublet of chakra, chakram, charkha, chukker, cyclus, kike, and wheel (see there for more).