Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Zoetrope \Zo"e*trope\, n. [Gr. ? life + ? turning, from ? to
   turn.]
   An optical toy, in which figures made to revolve on the
   inside of a cylinder, and viewed through slits in its
   circumference, appear like a single figure passing through a
   series of natural motions as if animated or mechanically
   moved.