vortex
/ˈvɔɹtɛks/ noun, verb
Forms vortices vortexes vortexing vortexed
- noun A whirlwind, whirlpool, or similarly moving matter in the form of a spiral or column.
- noun (figuratively) Anything that involves constant violent or chaotic activity around some centre.
- noun (figuratively) Anything that inevitably draws surrounding things into its current.
- noun (historical) A supposed collection of particles of very subtle matter, endowed with a rapid rotary motion around an axis which was also the axis of a sun or planet; part of a Cartesian theory accounting for the formation of the universe, and the movements of the bodies composing it.
- noun (zoology) Any of numerous species of small Turbellaria belonging to Vortex and allied genera.
- noun (collective) A group of vultures or buzzards.
- verb (chemistry) To mix using a vortex mixer.
Synonyms
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin vortex. Doublet of vertex.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A mass of fluid, especially of a liquid, having a whirling or circular motion tending to form a cavity or vacuum in the center of the circle, and to draw in towards the center bodies subject to its action; the form assumed by a fluid in such motion; a whirlpool; an eddy.
- noun A supposed collection of particles of very subtile matter, endowed with a rapid rotary motion around an axis which was also the axis of a sun or a planet. Descartes attempted to account for the formation of the universe, and the movements of the bodies composing it, by a theory of vortices.
Etymology [L. vortex, vertex, -icis, fr. vortere, vertere, to turn. See Vertex.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “vortex”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details