rotary

English

Etymology

Attested mid 18th century, from Medieval Latin rotarius, from Latin rota (“wheel”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɹəʊtəɹi/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɹoʊtəɹi/

Adjective

rotary (not comparable)

1. Capable of rotation.

   A rotary engine revolves the heads rather than having pistons go back and forth.

   • 1997, A. J. Taylor, D. S. Mothram, editors, Flavour Science: Recent Developments‎^[1], Elsevier, →ISBN, page 63:

     Volatiles of kecap manis and its raw materials were extracted using Likens-Nickerson apparatus with diethyl ether as the extraction solvent. The extracts were then dried with anhydrous sodium sulfate, concentrated using a rotary evaporator followed by flushing using nitrogen until the volume was about 0.5 ml.

Derived terms

• rotary beater
• rotary converter
• rotary dial
• rotary-dial
• rotary dialing
• rotary encoder
• rotary engine
• rotary evaporator
• rotary phone
• rotary press
• rotary printing press
• rotary saw
• rotary switch
• rotary table
• rotary wing
• rotary-wing aircraft
• rotary-wing intercept

Translations

capable of rotation

• Bulgarian: въртящ се (vǎrtjašt se), ротационен (rotacionen)
• Czech: otáčivý (cs), otočný, rotační
• Finnish: pyörivä (fi)
• French: rotatif (fr) m
• German: rotierbar, rotierend (de)
• Romanian: rotativ (ro), rotatoriu (ro)

Noun

rotary (plural rotaries)

1. (New England, Atlantic Canada) A roundabout, traffic circle.
2. (chiefly with initial capital) Any of the clubs making up the international Rotary International movement for community service.

Translations

roundabout — see roundabout

club in Rotary movement

• Finnish: rotariklubi