circle vs ring

circle

verb
  • To surround. 

  • To travel around along a curved path. 

  • To travel in circles. 

  • To place or mark a circle around. 

noun
  • An instrument of observation, whose graduated limb consists of an entire circle. When fixed to a wall in an observatory, it is called a mural circle; when mounted with a telescope on an axis and in Y's, in the plane of the meridian, a meridian or transit circle; when involving the principle of reflection, like the sextant, a reflecting circle; and when that of repeating an angle several times continuously along the graduated limb, a repeating circle. 

  • A two-dimensional geometric figure, a disk, consisting of the set of all those points of a plane at a distance less than or equal to a fixed distance (radius) from a given point. 

  • A form of argument in which two or more unproved statements are used to prove each other; inconclusive reasoning. 

  • A line comprising two semicircles of 30 yards radius centred on the wickets joined by straight lines parallel to the pitch used to enforce field restrictions in a one-day match. 

  • A bagginess of the skin below the eyes from lack of sleep. 

  • A series ending where it begins, and repeating itself. 

  • A territorial division or district. 

  • Any thin three-dimensional equivalent of the geometric figures. 

  • Any shape, curve or arrangement of objects that approximates to or resembles the geometric figures. 

  • A two-dimensional geometric figure, a line, consisting of the set of all those points in a plane that are equally distant from a given point (center). 

  • A curve that more or less forms part or all of a circle. 

  • A specific group of persons; especially one who shares a common interest. 

  • The orbit of an astronomical body. 

  • A ritual circle that is cast three times deosil and closes three times widdershins either in the air with a wand or literally with stones or other items used for worship. 

  • A traffic circle or roundabout. 

ring

verb
  • To enclose or surround. 

  • To produce (a sound) by ringing. 

  • To produce the sound of a bell or a similar sound. 

  • To telephone (someone). 

  • To steal and change the identity of (cars) in order to resell them. 

  • To make (a bell, etc.) produce a resonant sound. 

  • To ride around (a group of animals, especially catle) to keep them milling in one place; hence (intransitive), to work as a drover, to muster cattle. 

  • to resound, reverberate, echo. 

  • Of a bell, etc., to produce a resonant sound. 

  • Of something spoken or written, to appear to be, to seem, to sound. 

  • To surround or fit with a ring, or as if with a ring. 

  • To produce music with bells. 

  • To attach a ring to, especially for identification. 

  • To make an incision around; to girdle; to cut away a circular tract of bark from a tree in order to kill it. 

  • To rise in the air spirally. 

noun
  • A family of sets that is closed under finite unions and differences. 

  • A circumscribing object, (roughly) circular and hollow, looking like an annual ring, earring, finger ring etc. 

  • An exclusive group of people, usually involving some unethical or illegal practices. 

  • An old English measure of corn equal to the coomb or half a quarter. 

  • A large circular prehistoric stone construction such as Stonehenge. 

  • A group of atoms linked by bonds to form a closed chain in a molecule. 

  • A piece of food in the shape of a ring. 

  • Any loud sound; the sound of numerous voices; a sound continued, repeated, or reverberated. 

  • A circular group of people or objects. 

  • A sound or appearance that is characteristic of something. 

  • A flexible band partly or wholly encircling the spore cases of ferns. 

  • A bird band, a round piece of metal put around a bird's leg used for identification and studies of migration. 

  • A planar geometrical figure included between two concentric circles. 

  • A chime, or set of bells harmonically tuned. 

  • The resonant sound of a bell, or a sound resembling it. 

  • A formation of various pieces of material orbiting around a planet or young star. 

  • The open space in front of a racecourse stand, used for betting purposes. 

  • The twenty-fifth Lenormand card. 

  • A pleasant or correct sound. 

  • An algebraic structure which consists of a set with two binary operations: an additive operation and a multiplicative operation, such that the set is an abelian group under the additive operation, a monoid under the multiplicative operation, and such that the multiplicative operation is distributive with respect to the additive operation. 

  • A diacritical mark in the shape of a hollow circle placed above or under the letter; a kroužek. 

  • In a jack plug, the connector between the tip and the sleeve. 

  • A round piece of (precious) metal worn around the finger or through the ear, nose, etc. 

  • A place where some sports or exhibitions take place; notably a circular or comparable arena, such as a boxing ring or a circus ring; hence the field of a political contest. 

  • Either of the pair of clamps used to hold a telescopic sight to a rifle. 

  • A hierarchical level of privilege in a computer system, usually at hardware level, used to protect data and functionality (also protection ring). 

  • An algebraic structure as above, but only required to be a semigroup under the multiplicative operation, that is, there need not be a multiplicative identity element. 

  • A telephone call. 

  • A burner on a kitchen stove. 

  • An instrument, formerly used for taking the sun's altitude, consisting of a brass ring suspended by a swivel, with a hole at one side through which a solar ray entering indicated the altitude on the graduated inner surface opposite. 

How often have the words circle and ring occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )