cycles

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of cycle.

   Economic cycles can last for many years before they reverse.

   The engine runs through thousands of combustion cycles every minute.

   Note

   A regular plural, most at home where the noun counts repetitions: combustion cycles, the wash cycles on a dishwasher, the cycles of a process that keeps returning to its start. In the arts it can mean several whole series of poems or songs. The same spelling is also the present-tense verb, so a phrase like "engine cycles" can be read either way until an object or adverb settles it.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of cycle.

   He cycles along the river path on most weekends.

   The software cycles through each menu option automatically.

   Note

   One spelling carries several different jobs. Someone cycles to work by bicycle, a program cycles through its options, a technician cycles the power by switching it off and back on, and in ice hockey a team cycles the puck along the boards. Watch the grammar: riding is intransitive (she cycles to work), while the power and puck uses take a direct object (he cycles the router).

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