Etymology

Noun

1. The act of moving or revolving around, or as in a circle or orbit; a revolution; as, the periodical circuit of the earth around the sun.
2. The circumference of, or distance around, any space; the measure of a line around an area.

   The circuit or compass of Ireland is 1,800 miles. John Stow.

3. That which encircles anything, as a ring or crown.

   • 1590, And this fell tempest shall not cease to rage Until the golden circuit on my head, Like to the glorious sun's transparent beams, Do calm the fury of this mad-bred flaw. — William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part II, Act III, Scene I, line 351.

4. The space enclosed within a circle, or within limits.

   • 1592, "Fondling," she saith, "since I have hemm'd thee here Within the circuit of this ivory pale, I'll be a park, and thou shalt be my deer: Feed where thou wilt, on mountain, or in dale; Graze on my lips; and if those hills be dry, Stray lower, where the pleasant fountains lie. — William Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis, Stanza 39, line 229.
   • A circuit wide enclosed with goodliest trees.

5. A regular or appointed journeying from place to place in the exercise of one's calling, as of a judge, or a preacher.
6. A certain division of a state or country, established by law for a judge or judges to visit, for the administration of justice.
7. (Methodist Church) A district in which an itinerant preacher labors.
8. By analogy to the proceeding three, a set of theaters among which the same acts circulate; especially common in the heyday of vaudeville.
9. Circumlocution.

Related terms

• circuitous
• circuit board
• circuit breaker
• circuit court
• Galvanic circuit
• integrated circuit
• printed circuit
• short circuit
• Voltaic circuit

Verb

1. To move in a circle; to go round; to circulate.
2. To travel around.

   Having circuited the air.