circuitry

Noun

circuitry (countable and uncountable, plural circuitries)

1. (countable) A specific system of electrical circuits in a particular device; (uncountable) the design of such a system.
   • Telemetering transmitter removed from its pressurized container. The circuitry for each of the 23 channels can be quickly unplugged for servicing.1947 April 25, Ernst H[enry] Krause, “High Altitude Research with V-2 Rockets”, in Luther P[fahler] Eisenhart, editor, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, volume 91, number 5...
   • After jettison of nose cap, all the detector circuitry became exposed to the radiation environment.1959 August, Lew Allen, Jr.; James L. Beavers, II; William A. Whitaker; Jasper A. Welch, Jr.; Roddy B. Walton, “Project Jason Measurement of Trapped Electrons from a Nuclear Device by Sounding...
2. (uncountable) Electrical (or, by extension, other) circuits considered as a group.
   • In the microelectronics area, research and development efforts will concentrate on thin film circuitry, packaging and solid state electronics (work with transistors and the like). [...] The savings in weight over old-fashioned circuitry are important when the cost of items in orbit is figured at...1964 February, William Jury, “Green River Greets the Space Age: Work Begins on New $16,000,000 Research Center”, in Chester Chatfield, editor, The Boeing Magazine, volume XXXIV, number 2, Seattle...
   • The source of that passion [according to René Descartes] is "animal spirits," a circuitry of mechanical energy—blood circulation, heartbeat, muscle tension—whose purpose is not to inform but to protect the body from harm. Although the circuitry operates automatically in animals, in men bodily...1999, Andrea Nye, “Master of Passion”, in The Princess and the Philosopher: Letters of Elisabeth of the Palatine to René Descartes, Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, →ISBN, page 89
3. (figuratively, uncountable) The brain's neural network.
   • Since [Santiago Ramón y] Cajal's neural circuitry did not include inhibitory cells, he believed that short-axoned cells were important in maintaining a continuous and persistent activity in neural centers.1969, L. M. H. Larramendi, “Electron Microscopic Studies of Cerebellar Interneurons”, in Mary A[gnes] B[urnston] Brazier, editor, The Interneuron: Proceedings of a Conference Held September, 1967...
   • Some argue that the human brain contains structures or circuitry not found in the brains of other animals. [...] Others emphasize the massive increase in human brain size and posit that human behavior is an emergent phenomenon which reflects quantitative increases in neural processing capacity.1993, Kathleen R. Gibson, “Introduction: Overlapping Neural Control of Language, Gesture and Tool-use”, in Kathleen R. Gibson, Tim Ingold, editors, Tools, Language and Cognition in Human Evolution...