rotary
[roh-tuh-ree]
- turning or capable of turning around on an axis, as a wheel.
- taking place around an axis, as motion.
- having a part or parts that turn on an axis, as a machine.
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- a rotary device or machine.
- Chiefly Northeastern U.S. traffic circle.
- Also called rotary converter. Electricity. synchronous converter.
- (initial capital letter) Rotary Club.
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Origin of rotary
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for rotary
Contemporary Examples
Inquiries will be accepted only via Western Union telegram or rotary phone.
Bob Bashara was a married Rotary Club president who lived in a ritzy Detroit suburb.
The thwap-thwap-thwap of rotary wings above triggered an intense reaction in Army trauma surgeon Dr. (Maj.) Tara Dixon.
She traveled to South Africa as a Rotary International Youth Ambassador and contracted malaria.
They have no jet aircraft—they rely on rotary wing aircraft.
Historical Examples
On Model B a Holmes rotary 7-cylinder motor of 4x4-inch bore and stroke is used.
Flying MachinesW.J. Jackman and Thos. H. Russell
Sometimes the pan is shaken so that the dirt receives a rotary motion.
Hittel on Gold Mines and MiningJohn S. Hittell
He swung it rigidly with the rotary and menacing action of a slinger: the 14-lb.
End of the TetherJoseph Conrad
The log-hauler would not deliver the goods to the rotary saw.
A Labrador DoctorWilfred Thomason Grenfell
I changed the movement from a reciprocating to a rotary motion.
Peter CooperRossiter W. Raymond
rotary
- of, relating to, or operating by rotation
- turning or able to turn; revolving
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- a part of a machine that rotates about an axis
- US and Canadian a roundabout (for traffic)
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Word Origin
C18: from Medieval Latin rotārius, from Latin rota a wheel
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 rotary
adj.
1731, from Medieval Latin rotarius "pertaining to wheels," from Latin rota "a wheel, a potter's wheel; wheel for torture," from PIE root *roto- "to run, to turn, to roll" (cf. Sanskrit rathah "car, chariot;" Avestan ratho; Lithuanian ratas "wheel," ritu "I roll;" Old High German rad, German Rad, Dutch rad, Old Frisian reth, Old Saxon rath, Old Irish roth, Welsh rhod "carriage wheel"). The international service club (founded by Paul P. Harris in Chicago in 1905) so called from the practice of clubs entertaining in rotation. Hence Rotarian (1911).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper