1. (n.) A mass of rotating water, air or fire forming a vacuum in the center; a whirlpool; an eddy; a tornado\.
2. (n.) A supposed collection of particles of very subtle matter, endowed with a rapid rotary motion around an axis which was also the axis of a sun or a planet. Descartes attempted to account for the formation of the universe, and the movements of the bodies composing it, by a theory of vortices.
3. (n.) Any one of numerous species of small Turbellaria belonging to Vortex and allied genera. See Illustration in Appendix.
