circle n.
1. (UK Und.) a form of large drill-bit used to cut into a safe or strong-room.
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Ladies’ Repository (N.Y.) Oct. VIII:37 317/1: Sun, or Circle, A bit constructed so as to cut a large hole in a door, another of the fruits of state’s prison ingenuity. There is no preventative but sheet iron. |
2. (US jazz) a gramophone record.
| Down Beat’s Yearbook of Swing n.p.: hot circle or hot plate: hot phonograph record by a swing band. |
3. (Aus. gay) a group of three-plus homosexual men linked in a sexual act.
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | letter 26 Feb. in S.J. Baker papers MLMSS 165: Box 3: A ‘circle’ (let’s form a circle) is a group of 3 or more men as under Lucky Alphons. |
4. (Aus. prison) the space, in prisons so designed, at which all the cell-block ‘spokes’ meet.
| Doing Time 133: [O]ne of my mates was in the showers which are right next to the circle. Well, as the visitors were about to walk past I yelled out to him to report to the circle officer immediately. He staggered out of the shower and into the circle stark naked. |
SE in slang uses
In phrases
(N.Z. teen) to make a telephone call.
![[NZ]](/static/img/flags/nz.png "New Zealand") | Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. |
(US gambling) of money, bet, wagered.
| ‘Baby Sister’ [screenplay] in Black on Black 103: Dirty money is piled on the table. The stick man counts it. STICK MAN: Nine leaves in the circle. |
what time is it?
| Ladies’ Repository (N.Y.) Oct. VIII:37 317/1: What circle? What o’clock? |