vortex

Etymology

From Latin vortex. Doublet of vertex.

noun

1. A whirlwind, whirlpool, or similarly moving matter in the form of a spiral or column.
   An extreme version of vorticity is a vortex. The vortex is a spinning, cyclonic mass of fluid, which can be observed in the rotation of water going down a drain, as well as in smoke rings, tornados and hurricanes. 2013-03, Frank Fish, George Lauder, “Not Just Going with the Flow”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 2, archived from the original on 2013-05-01, page 114
2. (figurative) Anything that involves constant violent or chaotic activity around some centre.
   It’s hard to imagine that there is any major American clothing brand that does not have a store in the consumer vortex that is East Hampton; […] 30 August 2004, Rebecca Mead, “Flip-Flop Emergency”, in The New Yorker, page 38
   Montreal in the summer is a vortex of decadent food, 24-ounce cocktails and carefree people. We reveled in it, danced, swam in fountains. 2014-05-30, Will Butler, “The Mark of Cane”, in The New York Times Magazine
3. (figurative) Anything that inevitably draws surrounding things into its current.
4. (historical) A supposed collection of particles of very subtle matter, endowed with a rapid rotary motion around an axis which was also the axis of a sun or planet; part of a Cartesian theory accounting for the formation of the universe, and the movements of the bodies composing it.
5. (zoology) Any of numerous species of small Turbellaria belonging to Vortex and allied genera.

verb

1. (chemistry) To mix using a vortex mixer