| noun | a travelling company of entertainers; including trained animals “he ran away from home to join the circus” |
| noun | a performance given by a traveling company of acrobats, clowns, and trained animals “the children always love to go to the circus” |
| noun | a frenetic disorganized (and often comic) disturbance suggestive of a large public entertainment “it was so funny it was a circus” |
| noun | (antiquity) an open-air stadium for chariot races and gladiatorial games |
| noun | an arena consisting of an oval or circular area enclosed by tiers of seats and usually covered by a tent “they used the elephants to help put up the circus” |
| noun | a genus of haws comprising the harriers |