Definition of "eddy" []

• A current, as of water or air, moving contrary to the direction of the main current, especially in a circular motion. (noun)
• A drift or tendency that is counter to or separate from a main current, as of opinion, tradition, or history. (noun)
• To move in or as if in an eddy. See Synonyms at turn. (verb-intransitive)
• To cause to move in or as if in an eddy. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Because of the apparently irregular course taken by the current, these currents are called eddy currents."
• "The eddy was the only thing that saved him, for he could see the dread thing twirling round and round as it tried to reach him."
• "Willy felt like a dry leaf in an eddy, which is whirled round and round, yet is all the while making faster and faster for the hungry dimple in the middle, where there is no getting out again."