rotating

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of rotate.

   The turbine blades were rotating at tremendous speed.

   Rotating the tires regularly helps them wear evenly.

   Note

   Everything rotate can do, this form can do too, with or without an object: blades rotating, crews rotating through shifts, a manager rotating staff. Two specialist uses travel with it. Pilots speak of rotating when they lift the nose just before liftoff, and in stock-keeping it means moving older goods forward so they are used first. Before a noun, as in rotating machinery, it shades into the adjective for spinning things.

   The captain began rotating just before liftoff, and the nose rose smoothly off the runway.

   Staff spent the morning rotating stock so the oldest cartons sat at the front of the shelf.

2. 2
   adjective

   Turning around an axis or central point.

   Engineers inspected the rotating shaft for any signs of wear.

   A rotating beacon at the harbor mouth warned ships away from the rocks.

   Similarrevolving, rotary, whirling

   Oppositestationary, fixed

3. 3
   adjective

   Proceeding in sequence or by turns, so that roles or items change in a set order.

   The committee operates under a rotating chairmanship that passes to a new member each year.

   The restaurant offers a rotating menu of seasonal dishes that changes with each harvest.

   Similarrevolving, alternating, rotational

   Oppositepermanent, fixed

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