Definition of GYRATE

gyrate

Verb

Verb Forms: gyrated, gyrating, gyrates

  • To move or revolve rapidly in a circle or spiral.
  • to wind or move in a spiral course
    • "the young people gyrated on the dance floor"
  • revolve quickly and repeatedly around one's own axis
  • To revolve round a central point; to move spirally about an axis, as a tornado.

Adj

  • Having coils or convolutions.

Examples

  • The stripper gyrated sexily around a pole.
  • The tension made his mind gyrate with possible word combinations.

Origin / Etymology

Back-formation from gyration, on the basis of -ate (verb-forming suffix), from gyre (“to spin around; to gyrate, to whirl; (rare) to make (something) spin or whirl around; to spin, to whirl”) + -ation (suffix indicating actions or processes), further from Late Middle English giren (“to turn (something) away; to cause (something) to revolve or rotate; to travel in a circle”), from Old French girer (“to turn”), from Latin gȳrō (“to turn in a circle, rotate; to circle or revolve around”), from gȳrus (“circle; circular motion; circuit, course”) + -ō (first conjugation verb-forming suffix), from Ancient Greek γῦρος (gûros, “a circle, a ring”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gew- (“to bend; to curve”).

Synonyms

coil, reel, spin, spin around, spiral, whirl

Scrabble Score: 10

gyrate: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
gyrate: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
gyrate: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 10

gyrate: valid Words With Friends Word