Definition of: circuit

(sûr′kit) noun
1. A passing or traveling round; a revolution.
2. A journey from place to place, as by a judge or clergyman, in the discharge of duties.
3. A district or route within certain limits or boundaries; especially, a division assigned to a peripatetic judge for the holding of courts at stated intervals.
4. The persons undertaking these peripatetic journeys, as the judges.
5. In the Methodist Church, and in the Evangelical Association, a district in charge of an itinerant minister.
6. Distance around; compass; circumference.
7. Electr. a The entire course traversed by an electric current. When it is complete, so that the current will flow, it is a made or closed circuit; when interrupted, so that the current stops, it is a broken or open circuit. b The complete assembly of generators, conductors, vacuum tubes, switches, etc., by which an electric current is transmitted.
8. A circuit court. See under COURT.
9. A radio transmission and reception system.
—to ride the circuit To travel an assigned route in the capacity of minister, lawyer, judge, etc.
—v.t. & v.i. To go or move in a circuit. [<F <L circuitus <circumire < circum- around + ire go]