two-cycle

[ too-sahy-kuhl ]

adjective

1. noting or pertaining to an internal-combustion engine in which two strokes are required to complete a cycle two-stroke cycle, one to admit and compress air or an air-fuel mixture and one to ignite fuel, do work, and scavenge the cylinder.

two-cycle

adjective

1. relating to or designating an internal-combustion engine whose piston makes two strokes for every explosion Also called (in Britain and certain other countries)two-stroke See four-stroke

Word History and Origins

Origin of two-cycle¹

First recorded in 1900–05

Example Sentences

Porsche, like many other manufacturers, opts for the two-cycle test because of the added prep time and costs involved in completing the others.

From Washington Times

According to pioneerautoshow.com, the first successfully built tractor, which contained a two-cycle gasoline engine, was introduced in 1903.

From Washington Times

He was instrumental in passage of a law prohibiting the discharge of oil into water bodies, of which two-cycle engines were guilty.

From Washington Post

He was an accomplished guitarist; from a young age, he performed acrobatics and planned to join a circus before contracting rheumatic fever; he composed songs and sang them; and according to his lifelong friend Robert Heinlein, he could perform vocal impersonations of just about anything you threw at him — traffic, trains, birds or even something as weirdly specific as “a buzzsaw powered by a two-cycle engine cranked by a line.”

From Los Angeles Times

It’s also called a “putt-putt” because of the sound of its two-cycle engine, which requires oil to be mixed with the gas.

From Seattle Times