- a travelling company of entertainers; including trained animals;
"he ran away from home to join the circus"
- a performance given by a traveling company of acrobats, clowns, and trained animals;
"the children always love to go to the circus"
- a frenetic disorganized (and often comic) disturbance suggestive of a large public entertainment;
"it was so funny it was a circus" "the whole occasion had a carnival atmosphere"
- (antiquity) an open-air stadium for chariot races and gladiatorial games
- 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"
- a genus of haws comprising the harriers