Home UK English eddy

Meaning of eddy in English:

eddy

Pronunciation /ˈɛdi/

See synonyms for eddy

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nouneddies

  • 1A circular movement of water causing a small whirlpool.

    ‘the current was forming foam-lipped eddies along the bank’
    • ‘eddies of controversy swirled around his theories’
    • ‘A strong flow in the middle of the channel breaks into whirlpools and back eddies along both sides.’
    • ‘Along the bank I discovered quiet little eddies, water trickling between the stones with overhanging Myrtles, the sun sparkling on a pool when it could squeeze through the branches and leaves.’
    • ‘We made a hasty exit back up to the beach and, before long, the water was once again a maelstrom of ever-widening rips, eddies and whirlpools.’
    • ‘Seeing the eerie slicks and eddies of the water racing through at seven knots while a lonely cormorant beats its way up the sound is almost sinisterly memorable.’
    • ‘They require clear, flowing, well-oxygenated water with associated pools and eddies of quiet water and areas of dense vegetation or debris to provide adequate cover and food supply.’
    • ‘We drifted past a pair of mergansers, treading water in a streamside eddy.’
    • ‘The view is initially clouded and unfocused by an eddy of mixing cold water and I have to circle to find a clearer view of them.’
    • ‘The official state fish of Texas, Guadalupes tend to hang in moving water, often in eddies or seams right in what looks to be the fastest sections of rapids.’
    • ‘The following day was spent entering and exiting the fast-flowing currents and wild eddies in white water on the Mitta Mitta River.’
    • ‘The young chub seek out the corners of the tank, where small eddies mean the water is moving slower than in the main current.’
    • ‘Simultaneously, small whirlpools called eddies form on both sides of the boat near the stern, which surge and press against the boat on each side.’
    • ‘They spot small pools and eddies of water, and then little round objects scattered on the ground.’
    • ‘The bank at this point stood over a slow swirling eddy of water about 18 inches deep.’
    • ‘I'm seized by a mighty whirlpool, a perilous eddy of words which sucks me under, deeper and deeper.’
    • ‘In this role, as with his solo work, he's a miner of sonic archaeologies, a metaphysician of the eddies, currents and whirlpools of the past.’
    • ‘The thunder and lightning had abated for the time being, and now the rain was falling in slashing torrents, turning the streets into rivers, grates and drains into gurgling whirlpools and eddies.’
    • ‘The spiral wave inhibits normal waves, just as eddies in a stream inhibit the smooth flow of water.’
    • ‘Half an hour after surfacing, you will witness the might of the tidal stream, and the current will form eddies where you had previously been diving in calm water.’
    • ‘The bank at this point stood over a slow swirling eddy of water about 18 inches deep.’
    • ‘They spot small pools and eddies of water, and then little round objects scattered on the ground.’
    swirl, whirlpool, vortex, maelstrom
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    1. 1.1A circular movement of wind, fog, or smoke.
      ‘an eddy of chill air swirled into the carriage’
      • ‘Tiny eddies of smoke escaped from the edges of the bark, then succumb to the heat of the flames.’
      • ‘Eventually we could smell it in the air and hear it trickling beneath the eddies of wind.’
      • ‘A street cleaner already cleans the main thoroughfares but wind eddies can blow drifts of crisp packets and chocolate wrappers into alleys and hedges, he said.’
      • ‘So I peeled the orange to pass the time, watched the rinds floating down, catching in wind eddies like petals.’
      • ‘The difference in wind speeds creates a shear that forms eddies in the air.’
      • ‘Rough canopies generate mechanical turbulence, allowing eddies of air from the bulk atmosphere to penetrate deep within the plant canopy.’
      • ‘In the midst of all the gusts and eddies, something else was riding the wind.’
      • ‘Not coincidentally, the flowers of wind-pollinated plants are usually arranged in tight bunches that block the wind, creating eddies that increase the odds of successful pollen delivery.’
      • ‘The inside of a cloud is full of turbulence that creates many swirling eddies of air.’
      • ‘They swung back and forth, conjuring eddies from the still air.’
      • ‘Balmy gusts of wind chased dry leaves down the street and in little eddies around the legs of their table.’
      • ‘But it was hard to forget when every eddy of wind out of the east brought the smell of mud and the gleeful chuckles of the river.’
      • ‘It's thought that the overall rotation of these galaxies combines and smooths out the small-scale magnetic fields created by whirls and eddies of gas.’
      • ‘Optionally the flue gas recirculation duct has a plate member extending into the primary air chamber to create flow eddies to enhance further mixing of flue gas and air.’
      • ‘This called for a more streamlined roof line; the reduced roof pitch eliminated the unwanted eddies and made the air flow more efficiently.’
      • ‘He felt the world around him with breathtaking subtlety; the complex texture of the ground, the tiny eddies and currents in the air… nothing escaped his perception.’
      • ‘The inside of a cloud is full of turbulence that creates many swirling eddies of air.’
      swirl, whirl, eddy, billow, shower, gust, rush, burst, gale, squall, storm
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verbeddies, eddying, eddied

no object, with adverbial of direction

  • (of water, air, or smoke) move in a circular way.

    ‘the mists from the river eddied round the banks’
    • ‘Billowing clouds of steam and smoke drifted and eddied, obscuring then revealing the tormented reddish rock of the opposite wall.’
    • ‘He lit the tobacco in the pipe and blew a soft grey circle of smoke, which eddied and floated away on the currents of the wind like a bird taken to flight.’
    • ‘Snow fell, one tiny flake in every cubic metre of air, the beck ran clear but a foot or two across, dancing round the boulders, eddying at roots and skidding over smooth slabs of sandstone.’
    • ‘The only thing brighter than the sunlight was the dust, which swirled and eddied low around our feet, stirred by the rare breezes.’
    • ‘The current eddied and swirled like liquid glass, and occasionally a bit of ice, detached from the shore, would go gliding downstream to be swallowed up in the shadows under the bridge.’
    • ‘The fog whirled and eddied around her as she stepped out into the cobblestone street.’
    • ‘One of the most observable is at the blades of oars and these swirling jets of water can be easily seen eddying away and conforming to Newton's third law of motion, creating an opposite reaction.’
    • ‘I normally avoid any dish with celery in it, but the small, frothing mug of creamy soup was a perfect antidote to the snow eddying outside, a good deal of which had stuck to our hair and coats.’
    • ‘It was getting to be hot; small white shapes, clouds, floated in the blue sky, while others eddied down the roads around the ground.’
    • ‘Reporters eddied around the margins and complained that there was no coffee.’
    • ‘A sickly brown miasma eddied about his feet as he stepped around the bodies.’
    • ‘And around her, spreading higher and higher though yet to disperse into the air, strong, eddying winds whirl, becoming one with the oncoming storm.’
    • ‘He locates it on the edge of a pool where the river flows into the sea and vice versa in a ceaselessly eddying whirlpool.’
    • ‘He gestures to eddying whirlpools and rapids shooting through jagged rocks on both sides of the river, which is so narrow two ships could hardly pass each other.’
    • ‘Despite fierce ebb tides causing the river to swirl and eddy they maintained stationary.’
    • ‘The air eddies with charcoal smoke and incense.’
    swirl, whirl, spiral, wind, churn, swish, circulate, revolve, spin, twist
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Origin

Late Middle English probably from the Germanic base of the Old English prefix ed- ‘again, back’.