circles

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of circle.

   The artist painted overlapping circles across the entire canvas.

   Ripples spread outward in widening circles after the stone hit the water.

   Note

   A regular -s plural that carries every meaning of the noun with it: the geometer's line, the colloquial filled disk, rough rings of objects, curves, and groups of people. The human sense often takes the plural, as in talk of literary or academic circles. The same spelling also serves the present-tense verb, and context tells them apart: two circles is a noun, while the hawk circles is a verb.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of circle.

   The satellite circles the planet once every ninety minutes.

   Whenever he is unsure, he circles the question and returns to it later.

   Note

   Agreement is the whole grammar here. The -s form goes with he, she, it or a singular noun, while I, you, we, they and plural subjects take bare circle. The verb works two ways. Transitively, something circles a target, surrounds it, or rings a word on a page. Intransitively, a bird simply circles overhead. Its spelling twin is the noun plural.

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