figure eight

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌfɪɡəɹˈeɪt/

Noun

figure eight (plural figure eights)

1. The shape consisting of two circles or ovals joined together at one point, resembling the numeral 8.
2. A maneuver in which one rides, skates, or otherwise traces a path that forms a figure eight.
   • February 2018, Robert Draper in National Geographic Magazine, They Are Watching You—and Everything Else on the Planet

     The bikers pop wheelies and execute speedy figure eights along the busy street. Still, something more purposeful than joyriding would seem to be on their minds.

Verb

figure eight (third-person singular simple present figure eights, present participle figure eighting, simple past and past participle figure eighted)

1. To move in a figure eight pattern.
   • 1940, Raymond Chandler, Farewell, My Lovely, Penguin 2010, p. 61:

     For two minutes we figure-eighted back and forth across the face of the mountain and then popped out right beside the sidewalk café.

2. (slang) To engage in mutual masturbation (meaning 2).