C I R 
612 
C I R 
would be blue. Newton .—-An orb ; a circle; anything 
circular or orbicular: 
His pond’rous fliield, large and round, 
Behind him call; the broad circumjerence 
Hung on his (boulders like the moon. Milton. 
To CIRCUM'FERENCE, nj.a. To include in a circu¬ 
lar fpace. Not proper .—Nor is the vigour of this great 
body included only in itlelf, or circuniferenced by its fur- 
face ; but diifufed at indeterminate diltances. Brown, 
CIRCUMFEREN'TOR, f. A particular inftrument 
ufed by furveyors for taking angles. It confifts of a brafs 
circle and index all of a piece; the. diameter of the circle 
is commonly about feven inches; the index about four¬ 
teen inches long and an inch and a half broad. On the 
circle is a card or compafs, divided into 360 degrees; the 
meridian line of which anfwers to the middle of the 
breadth of the index. On the limb or circumference of 
the circle is foldered a brafs ring; which, with another 
fitted with a glafs, ,forms a kind of box for the needle, 
which is fufpended on a pivot in the center of the circle. 
There are alio two fights to fcrew on, and Aide up and 
dowm the index, as alfo a fpangle and focket lcrewed on 
the under fide of the circle, to receive the head of the 
three-legged (faff. 
‘To take, or obfernse, the Quantity of an Angle by the Cir¬ 
cumferentor .—The angle propofed being E K G, as deli¬ 
neated in the annexed figure; place the inftrument at K, 
then direft the fights to E, and obferve what degrees are 
cut by the fouth end of the needle, which let be 495 ; 
then, turning the inftrument about on its (land, diredt 
the fights to G, noting again what degrees are cut by the 
fouth end of the needle, which fuppole are 213. This 
done, fubtraft the lefs number from the greater, viz. 213 
from 295, and the remainder, or 82 degrees, is the quan¬ 
tity of the angle EICG fought. 
A circumferentor has been invented by Mr. Jones, ma¬ 
thematical inftrument-maker in Holborn, London, on an 
improved conftruftion. From a very Ample contrivance, 
it is rendered lufficient to take angles with the accuracy 
of a common theodolite; and by it angles of altitude and 
depreflion may be obferved as readily as horizontal ones. 
The improvement chiefly confifts in an arm or index G, 
as reprefented in the following figure, fo applied to the 
center of the compafs box, and within it, that, at the 
time of obferving, by only flipping a pin p out, the circle 
of degrees alone may move round, and ieave the index 
G fixed. This index will remain ftationary, from its being 
attached to the focket that ferews on the head of the 
ftaffs. On the end of this index, next the degrees in the 
box, there is a graduated nonius fcale, by which the cir¬ 
cle of 360 degrees is fubdivided into 5 minutes, or lefs if 
defired. To take angles of altitude or depreflions, the 
inftrument is turned down on its ball and focket into a 
perpendicular pofition, and adjufted to its level by a 
plumb-line hung on a pin at the back of the box, and 
made to coincide with’a mark made thereon. Then by 
looking through the fight-holes as in the preceding fi¬ 
gure, the angles are (hown on the circle of degrees by 
the nonius. The arms AB of the inftrument flip off, and 
the whole packs into a portable cafe but five inches and 
half fquare and three deep. 
CIR'CLTMFLEX, f \circumfiexus, Lat. bowed or bent.] 
An accent ufed to regulate the pronunciation of fyllables, 
including or participating the acute and grave.—The cir¬ 
cumflex keeps the voice in a middle tune, and therefore in. 
the Latin is compounded of both the other. Holder, 
CIRCUM'FUJENCE, f. An inclolure of waters. 
CIRCUM'FLUENT, adj. [circusnfluens , Lat.] Flowing 
round any thing: 
I rule the Paphian race, 
Whofe bounds the deep circumfluent waves embrace. Pope, 
CIRCUM FLUOUS, adj. \_circu/nfluus, Lat.] Environ¬ 
ing with waters : 
He the world 
Built on circumfluous waters calm, in wide 
Cryftalline ocean. Milton. 
CIRCUMFORA'NEOUS, adj. [circumforaneus, Lat.] 
Wandering from houfe to houfe: as, a circumfaraneous 
fiddler, one that plays at people’s doors. 
To CIRCUMFU'SE, <v. a. \cir cumfufus, Lat.] To pour 
round ; to fpread every way.—Men fee better, when their 
eyes are againft the fun, or candle, if they put their hand 
before their eye. The glaring fun, or candle, weakens 
the eye ; whereas the light circumfufed is enough for the 
perception Bacon. 
This nymph the god Cephifus had abus’d. 
With ail hi3 winding waters circumfus'd. Addifon. 
CIRCUMFU'SILE, adj. [circum and ftifllis, Lat.] That 
which may be poured or fpread round any thing: 
Artift divine, whofe (kilful hands infold 
The vi&im’s horn with circumj'uflle gold. Pope. 
CIRCUMFU'SION, f The a£t of fpreading round ; 
the ftate of being poured round. 
To CIRCUMGY'RATE, <v. a. [circum and gyrus, Lat.] 
To roll round.—-All the glands of the body be congeries 
of various lorts of veffels curled, circumgyrated, and com¬ 
plicated together. Ray. 
CJRCUMGYRA'TION,yi The a6l of running round. 
—The fun turns round his own axis in twenty-five days, 
from his firft being put into fuch a circumgyration. Cbeyne. 
CIRCUMJA'CENT, adj. [circumjacent , Lat.] Tying 
round any thing; bordering on every fide. 
CIRCUMI'TION, / [from circumeo, circumitum, Lat.] 
The aft of going round. 
CIRCUMLIGA'TION, / [circumligo, Lat.] The a 61 
of binding round. The bond with which any thing is. 
encompafled. 
CIRCUMLOCU'TION, f. [circumlocutio , Lat.] A cir¬ 
cuit or compafs of words; periphrafis.-—Virgil, ltudying 
brevity, could bring thefe words into a narrow compafs, 
which a tranflator cannot render without circumlocutions. 
Dryden.— The ufe of indireff expreflions.—Thefe people 
are not to be dealt withal, but by a train of myftery and 
circumlocution. L'Eflrange. —In oratory, it is the art of 
avoiding any thing dilagreeable or inconvenient to be ex- 
preffed 
