• n. 螺旋；旋渦；螺旋形之物
• adj. 螺旋形的；盤旋的
• vt. 使成螺旋形；使作螺旋形上升
• vi. 盤旋；成螺旋形；螺旋形上升（過去式spiraled/spiralled，過去分詞spiraled/spiralled，現(xiàn)在分詞spiraling/spiralling，第三人稱單數(shù)spirals，副詞spirally）

來自拉丁語 spipralis,旋轉(zhuǎn)的，螺旋的，來自 spira,線圈，繞圈，來自 PIE*sper,轉(zhuǎn)動，旋轉(zhuǎn)， 可能來自 PIE*spen,彎，轉(zhuǎn)，紡織，詞源同 spider,spin.

spiral

spiral: [16] Spiral comes via French spiral from medieval Latin spīrālis ‘coiled’, a derivative of Latin spīra. This in turn went back to Greek speira ‘coil’. English also acquired the noun, as spire [16], which is used for the ‘tip of a spiral shell’. It is not the same word as the spire of a church [OE], which originally meant ‘stalk, stem’, and may go back ultimately to the base *spī- (source of English spike ‘pointed flower head’ and spine). The spiraea [17] is etymologically the ‘coiled’ plant; and spiraea in turn was used to form the term aspirin.
=> aspirin, spiraea

spiral (adj.)

1550s, from Middle French spiral (16c.), from Medieval Latin spiralis "winding around a fixed center, coiling" (mid-13c.), from Latin spira "a coil, fold, twist, spiral," from Greek speira "a winding, a coil, twist, wreath, anything wound or coiled," from PIE *sper-ya-, from base *sper- (2) "to turn, twist." Related: Spirally. Spiral galaxy first attested 1913.

spiral (v.)

1726 (implied in spiraled), transitive, from spiral (n.). Intransitive use by 1834. Transferred and figurative sense by 1922. Related: Spiraling.

spiral (n.)

1650s, from spiral (adj.). U.S. football sense is from 1896. Figurative sense of "progressive movement in one direction" is by 1897. Of books, spiral-bound (adj.) is from 1937.

1. The process is not a circle but rather a spiral.

這個過程不是一個圓周運動而是螺旋上升型的。

來自柯林斯例句

2. The spiral of terrorism becomes never-ending.

恐怖主義活動沒完沒了，不斷升級。

來自柯林斯例句

3. The birds circled in a slow spiral above the house.

鳥兒在房子上空緩緩盤旋。

來自《權(quán)威詞典》

4. Her hair was styled into a cascade of spiral curls.

她的頭發(fā)被做成了瀑布般的螺旋形鬈發(fā).

來自《簡明英漢詞典》

5. Their profits began to spiral down disastrously.

他們的利潤開始螺旋形地急劇下降.

來自《簡明英漢詞典》