CIRCUS

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does Circus mean? 

• CIRCUS (noun)
  The noun CIRCUS has 6 senses:

1. a travelling company of entertainers; including trained animals

2. a performance given by a traveling company of acrobats, clowns, and trained animals

3. a frenetic disorganized (and often comic) disturbance suggestive of a large public entertainment

4. (antiquity) an open-air stadium for chariot races and gladiatorial games

5. an arena consisting of an oval or circular area enclosed by tiers of seats and usually covered by a tent

6. a genus of haws comprising the harriers

  Familiarity information: CIRCUS used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CIRCUS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A travelling company of entertainers; including trained animals

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Context example:

he ran away from home to join the circus

Hypernyms ("circus" is a kind of...):

company; troupe (organization of performers and associated personnel (especially theatrical))

Sense 2

Meaning:

A performance given by a traveling company of acrobats, clowns, and trained animals

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Context example:

the children always love to go to the circus

Hypernyms ("circus" is a kind of...):

show (the act of publicly exhibiting or entertaining)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "circus"):

three-ring circus (a circus with simultaneous performances in three rings)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A frenetic disorganized (and often comic) disturbance suggestive of a large public entertainment

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

carnival; circus

Context example:

the whole occasion had a carnival atmosphere

Hypernyms ("circus" is a kind of...):

disturbance (the act of disturbing something or someone; setting something in motion)

Sense 4

Meaning:

(antiquity) an open-air stadium for chariot races and gladiatorial games

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("circus" is a kind of...):

arena; bowl; sports stadium; stadium (a large structure for open-air sports or entertainments)

Domain category:

antiquity (the historic period preceding the Middle Ages in Europe)

Domain region:

capital of Italy; Eternal City; Italian capital; Roma; Rome (capital and largest city of Italy; on the Tiber; seat of the Roman Catholic Church; formerly the capital of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire)

Sense 5

Meaning:

An arena consisting of an oval or circular area enclosed by tiers of seats and usually covered by a tent

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Context example:

they used the elephants to help put up the circus

Hypernyms ("circus" is a kind of...):

arena; scene of action (a playing field where sports events take place)

Meronyms (parts of "circus"):

big top; circus tent; round top; top (a canvas tent to house the audience at a circus performance)

Sense 6

Meaning:

A genus of haws comprising the harriers

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

Circus; genus Circus

Hypernyms ("Circus" is a kind of...):

bird genus (a genus of birds)

Meronyms (members of "Circus"):

harrier (hawks that hunt over meadows and marshes and prey on small terrestrial animals)

Circus Aeruginosus; marsh harrier (Old World harrier frequenting marshy regions)

Circus pygargus; Montagu's harrier (brownish European harrier)

Circus cyaneus; hen harrier; marsh hawk; northern harrier (common harrier of North America and Europe; nests in marshes and open land)

Holonyms ("Circus" is a member of...):

Accipitridae; family Accipitridae (hawks; Old World vultures; kites; harriers; eagles)

 Context examples 

Two are in South Africa now, an' another's on a whaling voyage, an' one's travellin' with a circus—he does trapeze work.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

"A man who goes up in a balloon on circus day, so as to draw a crowd of people together and get them to pay to see the circus," he explained.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

Five minutes later we were in the street, walking towards Regent’s Circus.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He hurried at his top speed down Baker Street and along Oxford Street, until we had almost reached Regent Circus.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The close-packed throng extended from the other side of the Langham Hotel to Oxford Circus.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

An impromptu circus, fox and geese, and an amicable game of croquet finished the afternoon.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

At Piccadilly Circus I discharged my cab, and walked westward; beyond the Junior Constitutional I came across the house described, and was satisfied that this was the next of the lairs arranged by Dracula.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

You may be a number one, tip-top minin' expert, all right all right, the dog-musher delivered himself oracularly, but you missed the chance of your life when you was a boy an' didn't run off an' join a circus.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

I'm as excited as a child on its first visit to the circus.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I'd much rather go back to Kansas with you and be in a circus again.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)