# circus

Pronunciation: say "SUR-kuhs" US /ˈsɝkəs/, UK /ˈsɜːkəs/

## Noun

1. A troupe of entertainers that tours with its shows, usually staged in a round tent, and may feature acrobats, clowns, trained animals, and other novelty acts.
   - Simple: A group of performers, like clowns and acrobats, who travel and put on shows, often in a round tent.
   - _She left home at seventeen to join a traveling circus as a trapeze artist._
   - _Two rival circuses set up their tents on opposite sides of the river that summer._
2. A spectacle or a noisy fuss, or a place that is chaotic, crowded, or both.
   - Simple: A noisy fuss or show, or a place that is crowded or out of control.
   - _The trial became a media circus, with reporters camped on the courthouse steps._
   - _By noon the airport was a circus of delayed flights and shouting passengers._
3. A round open space in a town or city where several streets meet. *(UK)*
   - Simple: A round open area in a town or city where several streets come together.
   - _London's Oxford Circus, where Oxford Street crosses Regent Street, is one of the busiest junctions in the city._
   - _In Bath, the Circus is a ring of grand townhouses built around a round open space where three streets meet._
4. In ancient Rome and its empire, a long open-air arena with tiered seating around a track, where chariot races were held.
   - Simple: In ancient Rome, a large place built for chariot races, with seats around a long track.
   - _Thousands of spectators packed the circus to watch the chariots thunder around the track._
   - _Archaeologists have traced the outline of a Roman circus beneath the modern town._

## Noun

5. An enclosing circuit, or the space it encloses. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A ring that closes something in, or the space inside it.

## Other meanings

- (verb) To perform in a circus, or to be put on show as though part of one.
- (noun) In the Second World War, an RAF code name for daytime bomber attacks with fighter escorts on short-range targets, meant to draw up enemy fighters and keep their units in the area.

## Origin

Latin circus ("ring, circle"), which became Middle English circus, was probably borrowed from Ancient Greek kríkos or kírkos ("ring"), traditionally traced to the Proto-Indo-European root *(s)ker- ("to turn, bend"), though that link is disputed. Cirque is a doublet, and Old English hring, the ancestor of English ring, is probably related.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/circus (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).