figure eight

Definition of figure eight

: something resembling the Arabic numeral eight in form or shape: such as

a : a small knot — see knot illustration

b : an embroidery stitch

c : a dance pattern

d : a skater's figure

— called also figure-of-eight

Examples of figure eight in a Sentence

The skater traced a figure eight on the ice.

Recent Examples on the Web The Low-Level Obstacles portions will teach the correct ways up and down a hill, a slalom, figure eight, cones, traversing and braking on low obstacles and backing up skills for parking. — San Diego Union-Tribune, "Land Rover launches teen off-road driving courses," 6 Oct. 2019 In the most basic sense, the F-35 is performing a figure eight with the nose pointed up and not necessarily in the direction the jet is actually going. — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, "An F-35 Pilot Gives a Play-by-Play of His Own Aerial Stunts," 11 June 2019 In 50 career games since, Jank has averaged 6.2 points and 5.0 rebounds, scoring in double figures eight times. — Brian Howell, The Denver Post, "CU Buffs’ Annika Jank driven to succeed in junior year," 19 June 2019 Leslie herself was gliding around like an ice skater doing figure eights, making sure everyone had something to drink and someone to talk to. — Lucinda Rosenfeld, Harper's magazine, "First Daughters," 10 Feb. 2019 Sit in the stretch for 10 seconds, moving your hands in small figure eights for balance. — Jenna Dedić, Redbook, "Swim Your Way Stronger," 25 May 2017 Our first exercise is to do a large figure eight in a box to test timing, breaking, accelerating and cornering all at once. — Chuck Tannert, Popular Mechanics, "Here's How to Learn to Ride a Motorcycle and Get Your Motorcycle License," 7 Feb. 2019 Thick fluids form straight lines when being spread rapidly across a canvas, but will form loops and squiggles and figure eights if poured slowly. — Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, "Study: modern masters like Jackson Pollock were “intuitive physicists”," 26 Dec. 2018 Take a two-foot length of webbing—essentially flat rope—and tie the two ends together with a stopper knot such as a figure eight. — Andrew Northshield, Popular Mechanics, "How to Tie a Christmas Tree to the Roof of Your Car," 2 Dec. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'figure eight.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Learn More about figure eight

Dictionary Entries near figure eight

figure-four scissors

figure-four trap

Statistics for figure eight

Last Updated

14 Nov 2019

Time Traveler for figure eight

The first known use of figure eight was in 1748

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