Dictionary

Arctic Circle en · PROPN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio

Meanings

1. The parallel of latitude that runs 66° 33′ 39″ north of the Equator, which marks approximately the southernmost place in the Northern Hemisphere where the sun does not set on the summer solstice and does not rise on the winter solstice.
   • 1603, Philemon Holland (translator), The Philosophie, commonlie called, the Morals written by the Learned Philosopher Plutarch of Chæronea, London, The Opinions of the Philosophers, Book 3, Chapter 14, p. 825, PYTHAGORAS saith, that the earth is divided into five Zones proportionably to the sphaere of the universall heaven; to wit, the Artick circle, the Tropick of Summer, the Tropick of Winter, the Aequinoctiall and the Antartick.
   • Then he tells us that the Bear, or Stars of the Arctick Circle, never disappear; as an Observation which agrees with no other. 1715, Alexander Pope, “An Essay on the Life, Writings and Learning, of Homer”, in The Iliad of Homer, London: Bernard Lintott, page 51:
   • Then, some five miles north of Bolna, the entry into the Arctic is heralded by a long blast on the whistle of the engine. The Arctic Circle is marked by a sign on the east side of the line. 1957 August 14, H. A. Vallance, “By Rail to the Norwegian Arctic”, in Railway Magazine, page 574:
   • […] look at the manner in which the people of New England have of late carried on the Whale Fishery. Whilst we follow them among the tumbling mountains of ice, and behold them penetrating into the deepest frozen recesses of Hudson’s Bay, and Davis’s Streights, whilst we are looking for them beneath the Arctic circle, we hear that they have pierced into the opposite region of polar cold, that they are at the Antipodes, and engaged under the frozen serpent of the south. 1775, Edmund Burke, The Speech of Edmund Burke, Esq; on Moving his Resolutions for Conciliation with the Colonies, London: J. Dodsley, page 13:

Forms

Relateds

Antarctic Circle · polar circle

Translations (33)

ro Cercul Arctic (one of the five major circles of latitude) · es círculo polar ártico (one of the five major circles of latitude) · ro Cercul Polar de Nord (one of the five major circles of latitude) · fi pohjoinen napapiiri (one of the five major circles of latitude) · cy y Cylch Arctig (one of the five major circles of latitude) · nn polarsirkelen (one of the five major circles of latitude) · el αρκτικός κύκλος (one of the five major circles of latitude) · la Circulus Arcticus (one of the five major circles of latitude) · ka არქტიკული წრე (one of the five major circles of latitude) · is norðurheimskautsbaugur (one of the five major circles of latitude) · pt Círculo Ártico (one of the five major circles of latitude) · nb polarsirkelen (one of the five major circles of latitude) · cy Cylch y Gogledd (one of the five major circles of latitude) · nb den nordlige polarsirkelen (one of the five major circles of latitude) · vi vòng Cực Bắc (one of the five major circles of latitude) · ga An Ciorcal Artach (one of the five major circles of latitude) · hu Északi-sarkkör (one of the five major circles of latitude) · pt Círculo Polar Ártico (one of the five major circles of latitude) · de Nördlicher Polarkreis (one of the five major circles of latitude) · bg Северен полярен кръг (one of the five major circles of latitude) · ar الدَّائِرَة الْقُطْبِيَّة الشَّمَالِيَّة (one of the five major circles of latitude) · fr cercle arctique (one of the five major circles of latitude) · ja 北極圈 (one of the five major circles of latitude) · cmn 北極圈 /北极圈 (one of the five major circles of latitude) · ka ჩრდილოეთის პოლარული წრე (one of the five major circles of latitude) · it Circolo Polare Artico (one of the five major circles of latitude) · ca cercle polar àrtic (one of the five major circles of latitude) · ja 北極線 (one of the five major circles of latitude) · ru се́верный поля́рный круг (one of the five major circles of latitude) · nn den nordlege polarsirkelen (one of the five major circles of latitude) · vi vòng Bắc Cực (one of the five major circles of latitude) · nl noordpoolcirkel (one of the five major circles of latitude) · sv norra polcirkeln (one of the five major circles of latitude)