vortex Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun the shape of something rotating rapidly
swirl; whirl; convolution.
noun a powerful circular current of water (usually the result of conflicting tides)
maelstrom; whirlpool.

L. vortex, vertex, -icis, fr. vortere, vertere, to turn. See Vertex.

plural E Vortexes L Vortices

A mass of fluid, especially of a liquid, having a whirling or circular motion tending to form a cavity or vacuum in the center of the circle, and to draw in towards the center bodies subject to its action; the form assumed by a fluid in such motion; a whirlpool; an eddy.
(Cartesian System) A supposed collection of particles of very subtile matter, endowed with a rapid rotary motion around an axis which was also the axis of a sun or a planet. Descartes attempted to account for the formation of the universe, and the movements of the bodies composing it, by a theory of vortices.
(Zoöl.) Any one of numerous species of small Turbellaria belonging to Vortex and allied genera. See Illustration in Appendix.