-epicycles-

a. Pertaining to, resembling, or having the motion of, an epicycle. [ 1913 Webster ]

Epicyclic train (Mach.), a train of mechanism in which epicyclic motion is involved; esp., a train of spur wheels, bevel wheels, or belt pulleys, in which an arm, carrying one or more of the wheels, sweeps around a center lying in an axis common to the other wheels. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Epicycle + -oid: cf. F. épicycloïde. ] (Geom.) A curve traced by a point in the circumference of a circle which rolls on the convex side of a fixed circle. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Any point rigidly connected with the rolling circle, but not in its circumference, traces a curve called an epitrochoid. The curve traced by a point in the circumference of the rolling circle when it rolls on the concave side of a fixed circle is called a hypocycloid; the curve traced by a point rigidly connected with the rolling circle in this case, but not its circumference, is called a hypotrochoid. All the curves mentioned above belong to the class class called roulettes or trochoids. See Trochoid. [ 1913 Webster ]