Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Vortex \Vor"tex\, n.; pl. E. {Vortexes}, L. {Vortices}. [L.
   vortex, vertex, -icis, fr. vortere, vertere, to turn. See
   {Vertex}.]
   1. A mass of fluid, especially of a liquid, having a whirling
      or circular motion tending to form a cavity or vacuum in
      the center of the circle, and to draw in towards the
      center bodies subject to its action; the form assumed by a
      fluid in such motion; a whirlpool; an eddy.

   2. (Cartesian System) A supposed collection of particles of
      very subtile 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. (Zo["o]l.) Any one of numerous species of small
      Turbellaria belonging to {Vortex} and allied genera. See
      Illustration in Appendix.

   {Vortex atom} (Chem.), a hypothetical ring-shaped mass of
      elementary matter in continuous vortical motion. It is
      conveniently regarded in certain mathematical speculations
      as the typical form and structure of the chemical atom.

   {Vortex wheel}, a kind of turbine.