Definition of "eddying"

If you question a seaman on the subject, whether mere coaster or circumnavigator, he will tell you that in a snow-storm, because of its constant eddyings and gyrations, frequent trimming of sails is more necessary than in any other gale […]

1881, Symon's monthly meteorological magazine, page 59

At last, more from the natural eddying of the crowd than by his own effort, he found himself flung out into the open.

1934, George Orwell, chapter 22, in Burmese Days‎