A gyre is any manner of swirling vortex. It is often used to describe wind or ocean currents, for example the North Pacific Gyre. In bodies of water, organisms use gyres for movement from areas of depleted nutrients to areas of higher nutrients. Gyres are caused by the Coriolis effect. Uses in literature Lewis Carroll uses the verb gyre in the opening stanza of the poem "Jabberwocky" that appears in the first chapter of Through the Looking Glass; in chapter 6 Humpty Dumpty defines gyre as "to… (More on Gyre)