Adjacent Words

Rotate definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

RO'TATE, a. In botany, wheel-shaped; monopetalous, spreading flat, without any tube, or expanding into a flat border, with scarcely any tube; as a rotate corol.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: turn on or around an axis or a center; "The Earth revolves around the Sun"; "The lamb roast rotates on a spit over the fire" [syn: revolve, go around, rotate]
2: exchange on a regular basis; "We rotate the lead soprano every night"
3: perform a job or duty on a rotating basis; "Interns have to rotate for a few months"
4: cause to turn on an axis or center; "Rotate the handle" [syn: rotate, circumvolve]
5: turn outward; "These birds can splay out their toes"; "ballet dancers can rotate their legs out by 90 degrees" [syn: turn out, splay, spread out, rotate]
6: plant or grow in a fixed cyclic order of succession; "We rotate the crops so as to maximize the use of the soil"

Merriam Webster's

I. adjective Etymology: Latin rota Date: 1785 having the parts flat and spreading or radiating like the spokes of a wheel <rotate blue flowers> II. verb (rotated; rotating) Etymology: Latin rotatus, past participle of rotare, from rota wheel — more at roll Date: 1785 intransitive verb 1. a. to perform an act, function, or operation in turn b. to pass or alternate in a series 2. to turn about an axis or a center ; revolve; especially to move in such a way that all particles follow circles with a common angular velocity about a common axis transitive verb 1. a. to cause to turn or move about an axis or a center b. to cause (a plane region or line) to sweep out a volume or surface by moving around an axis so that each of its points remains at a constant distance from the axis <generate a torus by rotating a circle about an external line> 2. to cause to grow in rotation <rotate crops> 3. to cause to pass or act in a series ; alternate 4. to exchange (individuals or units) with others • rotatable adjective

Oxford Reference Dictionary

1. v. 1 intr. & tr. move round an axis or centre, revolve. 2 a tr. take or arrange in rotation. b intr. act or take place in rotation (the chairmanship will rotate). Derivatives: rotatable adj. rotative adj. rotatory adj. Etymology: L rotare f. rota wheel 2. adj. Bot. wheel-shaped. Etymology: formed as ROTA

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Rotate Ro"tate, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Rotated; p. pr. & vb. n. Rotating.] 1. To turn, as a wheel, round an axis; to revolve. 2. To perform any act, function, or operation in turn, to hold office in turn; as, to rotate in office.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Rotate Ro"tate, a. [L. rotatus, p. p. of rotare to turn round like a wheel, fr. rota wheel. See Rotary, and cf. Roue.] Having the parts spreading out like a wheel; wheel-shaped; as, a rotate spicule or scale; a rotate corolla, i.e., a monopetalous corolla with a flattish border, and no tube or a very short one.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Rotate Ro"tate, v. i. 1. To cause to turn round or revolve, as a wheel around an axle. 2. To cause to succeed in turn; esp., to cause to succeed some one, or to be succeeded by some one, in office. [Colloq.] ``Both, after a brief service, were rotated out of office.'' --Harper's Mag.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(rotates, rotating, rotated) 1. When something rotates or when you rotate it, it turns with a circular movement. The Earth rotates round the sun... Take each foot in both your hands and rotate it to loosen and relax the ankle. VERB: V, V n 2. If people or things rotate, or if someone rotates them, they take it in turns to do a particular job or serve a particular purpose. The members of the club can rotate and one person can do all the preparation for the evening... They will swap posts in a year's time, according to new party rules which rotate the leadership. VERB: V, V n • rotating The European Union's rotating presidency passed from Sweden to Belgium. ADJ: ADJ n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. n. Revolve, wheel, whirl, turn, go round, turn round.

Moby Thesaurus

advance, alternate, ascend, back, back up, bandy, be here again, become airborne, budge, change, change place, circle, circulate, circumrotate, circumvolute, clear, climb, come again, come and go, come around, come round, come round again, come up again, convert, crank, cycle, descend, ebb, ensue, evert, exchange, flow, fly aloft, follow, get over, go, go around, go round, go sideways, gyrate, gyre, interchange, intermit, introvert, intussuscept, invaginate, inverse, invert, jump off, leave the ground, mount, move, move over, oscillate, pirouette, pivot, plunge, progress, pronate, pulsate, pulse, reappear, recur, reel, regress, relieve, reoccur, repeat, resupinate, retrogress, return, reverse, revolve, rise, roll, roll around, round, run, screw, shift, sink, soar, spell, spin, stir, stream, subside, succeed, supinate, swap, swing, switch, swivel, take off, take turns, taxi, transpose, travel, turn, turn a pirouette, turn about, turn around, turn down, turn in, turn inside out, turn out, turn over, turn round, turn the scale, turn the tables, turn upside down, twirl, twist, undulate, wamble, wane, wheel, wheel around, whirl, wind