English

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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figure eight (plural figure eights)

  1. The shape consisting of two circles or ovals joined together at one point, resembling the numeral 8.
  2. A maneuver in which one rides, skates, or otherwise traces a path that forms a figure eight.
    • 2018 February, Robert Draper, “They are Watching You—and Everything Else on the Planet: Technology and Our Increasing Demand for Security have Put Us All under Surveillance. Is Privacy Becoming just a Memory?”, in National Geographic[1], Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 14 June 2018:
      The bikers pop wheelies and execute speedy figure eights along the busy street. Still, something more purposeful than joyriding would seem to be on their minds.
  3. A variety of puffer fish (Tetraodontidae).

Synonyms

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Translations

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Verb

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figure eight (third-person singular simple present figure eights, present participle figure eighting, simple past and past participle figure eighted)

  1. Alternative form of figure-eight
    • 1916, Poultney Bigelow, James Henry Worman, Albert Britt, Outing - Volume 68, page 492:
      The four and a half ounce rod doubled and dipped and figure eighted while the line literally smoked.
    • 1980, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Omnibus Territorial Legislation--1980: Hearing Before the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, United States Senate, Ninety-sixth Congress:
      The giant drifter is stowed in the foc'sl in the rolled condition, being figure eighted against the side of the bow on hooks.
    • 1983, Surgery Operative Practice Manual: VM COLL 620 1983-1984, page 90:
      An orthopedic wire is figure eighted around the Kirschner wire and pulled tight.
    • 1997, Craven Kurz, Contemporary Lingual Orthodontics, page 83:
      The six anterior teeth are "figure eighted" together as well and retraced "en masse."