cycle: Meaning and Definition of

cy•cle

Pronunciation: (sī'kul), [key]
— n., v., -cled, -cling.
—n.
  1. any complete round or series of occurrences that repeats or is repeated.
  2. a round of years or a recurring period of time, esp. one in which certain events or phenomena repeat themselves in the same order and at the same intervals.
  3. any long period of years; age.
  4. a bicycle, motorcycle, tricycle, etc.
  5. a group of poems, dramas, prose narratives, songs etc., about a central theme, figure, or the like: the Arthurian cycle.
    1. a sequence of changing states that, upon completion, produces a final state identical to the original one.
    2. one of a succession of periodically recurring events.
    3. a complete alteration in which a phenomenon attains a maximum and minimum value, returning to a final value equal to the original one.
  6. a permutation of a set of elements that leaves the original cyclic order of the elements unchanged.
    1. the smallest interval of time required to complete an operation in a computer.
    2. a series of computer operations repeated as a unit.
  7. (of one player) to hit a single, double, triple, and home run in one game.
—v.i.
  1. to ride or travel by bicycle, motorcycle, tricycle, etc.
  2. to move or revolve in cycles; pass through cycles.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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