gyrate

Etymology

Back-formation from gyration + English -ate (suffix meaning ‘to act [in the specified manner]’). Gyration is derived from gyre (“to spin around; to gyrate, to whirl; (rare) to make (something) spin or whirl around; to spin, to whirl”) + -ation (suffix indicating actions or processes). Gyre is from Late Middle English giren (“to turn (something) away; to cause (something) to revolve or rotate; to travel in a circle”), from Old French girer (“to turn”), and directly from its etymon Latin gȳrāre, the present active infinitive of gȳrō (“to turn in a circle, rotate; to circle or revolve around”) (from gȳrus (“circle; circular motion; circuit, course”), from Ancient Greek γῦρος (gûros, “a circle, a ring”), from Proto-Indo-European *gew- (“to bend; to curve”)) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs).

verb

1. (intransitive) To revolve round a central point; to move spirally about an axis, as a tornado.
   The stripper gyrated sexily around a pole.

adj

1. (biology) Having coils or convolutions.