arc

[ahrk]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR arc ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

Geometry. any unbroken part of the circumference of a circle or other curved line.

Also called electric arc. Electricity. a luminous bridge formed in a gap between two electrodes.Compare spark¹(def 2).

Astronomy. the part of a circle representing the apparent course of a heavenly body.

anything bow-shaped.

verb (used without object), arced [ahrkt] /ɑrkt/ or arcked, arc·ing [ahr-king] /ˈɑr kɪŋ/ or arck·ing.

to form an electric arc.

to move in a curve suggestive of an arc.

Origin of arc

1350–1400; Middle English ark < Latin arcus bow, arch, curve

Can be confusedarc ark

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for arcing

arc, twist, curl, curve, bend, cut, spin, swing, pass, swerve, veer, bulge, buckle, spiral, crumple, coil, skew, loop, bridge, span

Examples from the Web for arcing

Contemporary Examples of arcing

That afternoon, on a hunch, Ray Molina, a longtime friend who lived in New Mexico, followed an arcing route south from the lodge.
The Final Run of Ultra-Marathoner Micah True
Nick Heil
May 19, 2012
I looked down at it, and this rope of blood just went [makes a shooting sound and an arcing motion through the air].
The Knife Master
Melissa Vaughn, Brendan Vaughn
October 11, 2010
He later identified the occurrence in psychic literature as supernatural “arcing.”
Ghostbusters Is Real!
Benjamin Sarlin
October 26, 2009

Historical Examples of arcing

But the bolt caromed harmlessly off the side of the arcing Star Devil!
Hawk Carse
Anthony Gilmore
Its resistance fell, the arcing decreased; the beam became orange and finally green.
The Last Evolution
John Wood Campbell
The sun was far below the horizon when it was finished, and the glowing, arcing forces that had made and formed it were stopped.
The Last Evolution
John Wood Campbell
It is better to have switches of some excess capacity, as the heavy metal stands the arcing much better.
Motion Picture Operation, Stage Electrics and Illusions
Henry C. Horstmann
Now the blue fireball was arcing down over the hillside, trailing its orange-red comet tail.
Tom Swift and The Visitor from Planet X
Victor Appleton

British Dictionary definitions for arcing

arc

noun

something curved in shape

part of an unbroken curved line

a luminous discharge that occurs when an electric current flows between two electrodes or any other two surfaces separated by a small gap and a high potential difference

astronomy a circular section of the apparent path of a celestial body

maths a section of a curve, graph, or geometric figure

verb arcs, arcing, arced, arcs, arcking or arcked

(intr) to form an arc

prefix

maths specifying an inverse trigonometric function: usually written arcsin, arctan, arcsec, etc, or sometimes sin –1, tan –1, sec –1, etc

Word Origin for arc

C14: from Old French, from Latin arcus bow, arch

ARC

abbreviation for

AIDS-related complex: an early condition in which a person infected with the AIDS virus may suffer from such mild symptoms as loss of weight, fever, etc

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for arcing

arc

late 14c., originally in reference to the sun's apparent motion in the sky, from Old French arc "bow, arch, vault" (12c.), from Latin arcus "a bow, arch," from PIE root *arku- "bowed, curved" (cf. Gothic arhvazna "arrow," Old English earh, Old Norse ör; also, via notion of "supple, flexible," Greek arkeuthos, Latvian ercis "juniper," Russian rakita, Czech rokyta, Serbo-Croatian rakita "brittle willow"). Electrical sense is from 1821.