Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CIR-CUM-SPEC'TIVE-LY, adv.

Cautiously; vigilantly; heedfully; with watchfulness to guard against danger.

CIR'CUM-SPECT-LY, adv.

Cautiously with watchfulness every way; with attention to guard against surprise or danger. – Ray.

CIR'CUM-SPECT-NESS, n.

Caution; circumspection; vigilance in guarding against evil from every quarter. – Wotton.

CIR'CUM-STANCE, n. [L. circumstantia, from circumstans, standing about; circum and sto, to stand. Literally, that which stands around or near. Hence,]

1. Something attending, appendant, or relative to a fact, or case; a particular thing, which, though not essential to an action, in some way affects it; the same to a moral action, as accident to a natural substance; as, the circumstances of time, place, and persons, are to be considered.
2. The adjuncts of which make it more or less criminal, or make an accusation more or less probable; accident; something adventitious; incident; event. – Johnson.
3. Circumstances, in the plural, condition, in regard to worldly estate; state of property; as, a man in low circumstances or in easy circumstances.

CIR'CUM-STAN-CED, pp. [or a.]

Placed in a particular manner, with regard to attending facts or incidents; as, circumstanced as we were, we could not escape.

CIR'CUM-STANT, a.

Surrounding. [Little used, or not at all.]

CIR-CUM-STAN'TIAL, a.

1. Attending; relating to; but not essential.
2. Consisting in or pertaining to circumstances, or to particular incidents. The usual character of human testimony is substantial truth under circumstantial variety. Paley.
3. Incidental; casual. – Donne.
4. Abounding with circumstances, or exhibiting all the circumstances; minute; particular; as, a circumstantial account or recital.
5. In law, circumstantial evidence is that which is obtained from circumstances, which necessarily or usually attend facts of a particular nature, from which arises presumption. Blackstone.

CIR-CUM-STAN'TIAL, n.

Circumstantials, in the plural, are things incident to the main subject, but of less importance; opposed to essentials; as, the circumstantials of religion. Addison.

CIR-CUM-STAN-TIAL'I-TY, n.

1. The appendage of circumstances; the state of any thing as modified by circumstances. – Johnson.
2. Particularity in exhibiting circumstances; minuteness; as, the circumstantiality of a story or description.

CIR-CUM-STAN'TIAL-LY, adv.

1. According to circumstances; not essentially; accidentally. – Glanville.
2. Minutely; exactly; in every circumstance or particular. – Broome.

CIR-CUM-STAN'TIATE, v.t.

1. To place in particular circumstances; to invest with particular accidents or adjuncts. – Bramhall.
2. To place in a particular condition with regard to power or wealth. – Swift. [This word is little used.]

CIR-CUM-TER-RA'NE-OUS, a. [L. circum, about, and terra, earth.]

Around the earth. – Halywell.

CIR-CUM-UN'DU-LATE, v.t. [L. circum, and undulatus.]

To flow round, as waves.

CIR-CUM-VAL'LATE, v.t.

To surround with a rampart. [Little used.]

CIR-CUM-VAL-LA'TION, n. [L. circumvallo, to wall round; circum and vallo, to fortify with a rampart.]

1. In the art of war, a surrounding with a wall or rampart; also, a wall, rampart, or parapet with a trench, surrounding the camp of a besieging army, to prevent desertion, and guard the army against any attempt of an enemy to relieve the place beseiged. – Encyc.
2. The rampart, or fortification surrounding a besieged place. Note. – This word, from the Latin vallo, or vallum, vallus, denotes properly the wall or rampart thrown up; but as the rampart is formed by entrenching, and the trench makes a part of the fortification, the word is applied to both. [See Eng. Wall.]

CIR-CUM-VEC'TION, n. [L. circum, and veho, to carry.]

A carrying about. [Not used.]

CIR-CUM-VENT', v.t. [L. circumvenio; circum, and venio, to come.]

Literally, to come round; hence, To gain advantage over another, or to accomplish a purpose by arts, stratagem, or deception; to deceive; to prevail over another by wiles or fraud; to delude; to impose on. – Milton. Dryden.

CIR-CUM-VENT'ED, pp.

Deceived by craft or stratagem; deluded.

CIR-CUM-VENT'ING, ppr.

Deceiving; imposing on.

CIR-CUM-VEN'TION, n.

1. The act of prevailing over another by arts, address, or fraud; deception; fraud; imposture delusion. – South.
2. Prevention; preoccupation. [Obs.] – Shak.

CIR-CUM-VENT'IVE, a.

Deceiving by artifices; deluding.

CIR-CUM-VEST', v.t. [L. circumvestio; circum, and vestio, to clothe.]

To cover round, as with a garment. – Wotton.

CIR-CUM-VO-LA'TION, n. [L. circumvolo; circum, and volo, to fly.]

The act of flying round. [Little used.]

CIR-CUM-VO-LU'TION, n.

1. The act of rolling round; state of being rolled; also, the thing rolled round another. – Arbuthnot. Wilkins.
2. In architecture, the torus of the spiral line of the Ionic order. – Encyc.

CIR-CUM-VOLV'E, v.i.

To roll round; to revolve.