ed·dy | \ ˈe-dē 
\
\ plural eddies
Definition of eddy
(Entry 1 of 3)
1a : a current of water or air running contrary to the main current especially : a circular current : whirlpool
b : something moving similarly
2 : a contrary or circular current (as of thought or policy)
eddy
verbeddied; eddying
Definition of eddy (Entry 2 of 3)
: to cause to move in an eddy
: to move in an eddy or in the manner of an eddy
Eddy
biographical nameEd·dy | \ ˈe-dē \
\Definition of Eddy (Entry 3 of 3)
Mary (Morse) 1821–1910 née Baker American founder of the Christian Science Church
Examples of eddy in a Sentence
Noun
The boat was caught in a powerful eddy. Verb
The wind gusted and eddied around us.
The waves swirled and eddied against the pier.
See More
Recent Examples on the Web: Noun The revolt of Bohemia was the last eddy in the ebb of the romantic flood that had flowed in various great waves through the literature of 19th-century Europe.
—
John Dos Passos, National Review, "Reminiscences of a Middle-Class Radical," 28 Sep. 2020 Trees flanked the opposite bank, and salmon were spawning in a small eddy.
—
oregonlive, "Locals band together, grieve amid remains of Beachie Creek wildfire devastation," 26 Sep. 2020 Jet fuel is known as the steady eddy of the refinery business, a predictable profit-maker that balances the seasonal gyrations of gasoline and diesel sales.
—
Clifford Krauss And Niraj Chokshi New York Times, Star Tribune, "Delta's refinery experiment has become an albatross," 10 Aug. 2020 Other trout may be cruising, slurping their way along the length of a backwater or eddy, and then swimming back downstream to repeat the process.
—
John Merwin, Field & Stream, "How to Fish for Trout During the Summer Trico Hatch," 23 June 2020 The forecast on Jupiter is always stormy, which means its clouds are always moving, shifting into new currents and eddies.
—
Marina Koren, The Atlantic, "You’ve Never Seen Jupiter Like This Before," 14 May 2020 Sonic eddies form, with a motif getting caught in a repeating pattern before breaking free.
—
Alex Ross, The New Yorker, "Víkingur Ólafsson, Liza Lim, and a Surge of Streaming in Quarantine," 27 Apr. 2020 The energy of these atmospheric eddies then fed into the slowly rotating trapped airmass, creating a feedback loop that reinforced and sustained the block.
—
Paul Voosen, Science | AAAS, "Why does the weather stall? New theories explain enigmatic ‘blocks’ in the jet stream," 5 Mar. 2020 That hadn’t been the result of some random eddy of energy.
—
David Canfield, EW.com, "Jim Butcher offers a sneak peek of upcoming novel Peace Talks," 16 Jan. 2020 Recent Examples on the Web: Verb As a result, other stray digital ephemera are sucked into this eddying body—fashion photos of NBA baller Chris Paul, a random clip of someone’s dad—all of them in conversation with one another.
—
Jason Parham, Wired, "Kesha, Lil Wayne, and Albums That Don't Need a Viral Hit," 14 Feb. 2020 In the same way that eddies in a stream alter downstream currents, Elgindi’s work itself prompted a new round of mathematical discovery.
—
Quanta Magazine, "For Fluid Equations, a Steady Flow of Progress," 13 Jan. 2020 The toilets at home were white and eddied the business away.
—
Vanessa Martir, Longreads, "‘To Be Well’: An Unmothered Woman’s Search for Real Love," 27 Nov. 2019 Even as rhymes ricochet about, the whole seems to eddy from the walls into the room’s center.
—
BostonGlobe.com, "The installation nods outward to the space it inhabits. Even as rhymes ricochet about, the whole seems to eddy from the walls into the room’s center.," 31 Oct. 2019 The dancers’ bodies seem always a-curve, torsos and arms frequently describing circles in the air, or whole bodies eddying down and pooling out into soft rolls on the floor.
—
Janine Parker, BostonGlobe.com, "David Roussève’s REALITY pays tribute to an unsung hero," 5 July 2019 The generous space between them is insurance that a fire in one is less likely to spread to another, and the arrangement ensures there won’t be a constricted area where the wind might eddy in a blizzard and pile snow against a tent entrance.
—
Barry Lopez, Harper's magazine, "Polar Light," 10 Jan. 2019 This is all great, but no one has ever measured the way that eddies flux heat or CO2.
—
Quanta Magazine, "Scientists Parse Ocean’s Dynamic Role in Climate Change," 11 Apr. 2013 Below, a meadow of soft gold wild grass sways in the wind like the bay’s eddying waters.
—
Hamish Bowles, Vogue, "Inside Tory Burch’s Lovingly Restored Antigua Getaway," 15 Aug. 2018
See MoreThese example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'eddy.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Keep scrolling for more
Keep scrolling for more
More Definitions for eddy
eddy
nounEnglish Language Learners Definition of eddy
(Entry 1 of 2)
: a circular movement of air or water
eddy
verbEnglish Language Learners Definition of eddy (Entry 2 of 2)
: to move in a circle : to form an eddy
See the full definition for eddy in the English Language Learners Dictionary
eddy
nouned·dy | \ ˈe-dē \
\ plural eddies
Kids Definition of eddy
(Entry 1 of 2)
: a current of air or water running against the main current or in a circle
eddy
verbeddied; eddying
Kids Definition of eddy (Entry 2 of 2)
: to move in a circle : to form an eddy
Keep scrolling for more
Comments on eddy
What made you want to look up eddy? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).
Test Your Vocabulary
Farm Idioms Quiz
- What does 'poke' refer to in the expression 'pig in a poke'?
Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words?
TAKE THE QUIZ
Test Your Knowledge - and learn some interesting things along the way.
TAKE THE QUIZLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridgedWords at Play
Ask the Editors
Word Games
Share eddy
Time Traveler for eddy
The first known use of eddy was in the 15th century
See more words from the same century