WORD.

VORTEX-

1. a whirling mass or rotary motion in a liquid gas, flame, etc, such as

the spiralling movement of water around a whirlpool

2. any activity, situation, or way of life regarded as irresistibly engulfing

origin.

1652, "whirlpool, eddying mass," from L. vortex, variant of vertex "an eddy of water, wind, or flame; whirlwind," from stem of vertere "to turn". Plural form is vortices. Became prominent in 17c. theories of astrophysics (by Descartes, etc.). In ref. to human affairs, it is attested from 1761. Vorticism as a movement in British arts and literature is attested from 1914, coined by Erza Pound.