Meaning
Events have returned to their starting point after running their course; a process, situation, or fortune has ended up much where it began. Usually said when an earlier state of affairs repeats itself, often with a sense of inevitability or ironic return. Everyday speech usually clips it to come full circle or just full circle; quoting the full wheel line signals the King Lear allusion deliberately. Regional use: General English (Shakespearean allusion).
Origin
In King Lear, written late 1605 or early 1606, Act 5 Scene 3, the dying villain Edmund hears Edgar say the gods are just and answers: 'Thou hast spoken right, 'tis true; The wheel is come full circle: I am here.' It is Edmund's admission that his own treachery has swung round upon him. Christine Ammer's Dictionary of Cliches says the expression was probably originated by Shakespeare in this line and has been used ever since for situations in which events run their course and things end much as they began - a hedged attribution, and no earlier use of the phrase appears in the sources consulted. The modern idiom come or go full circle, defined by current dictionaries as returning to an original state or position, descends directly from Edmund's wheel, with Fortune's wheel - the goddess spinning mortal fates up and down - standing behind it.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- come full circle
- gone full circle
- the wheel is come full circle
Usage Examples
- The firm began as a two-man repair shop, and now the founder's granddaughter has brought it full circle.
- Fashion being what it is, the wheel has come full circle and bootcut jeans are back in every shop window.
- The wheel has come full circle, he said, watching his old rival take the chair he once lost to him.