Green’s Dictionary of Slang

circle n.

1. (UK Und.) a form of large drill-bit used to cut into a safe or strong-room.

[US]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.

[US]P.E. Miller Down Beat’s Yearbook of Swing n.p.: hot circle or hot plate: hot phonograph record by a swing band.

3. (Aus. prison) the space, in pirsons so designed, at which all the cell-block ‘spokes’ meet.

[Aus]B. Ellem 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

in the circle (phr.)

(US gambling) of money, bet, wagered.

[US]C. Himes ‘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.