Centering Cen"ter·ing noun (Architecture) Same as Center , noun , 6. [ Written also centring .]

Centerpiece, Centrepiece Cen"ter·piece`, Cen"tre·piece` noun An ornament to be placed in the center, as of a table, ceiling, atc.; a central article or figure.

Centesimal Cen·tes"i·mal adjective [ Latin centesimus the hundredth, from centum a hundred: confer French centésimal .] Hundredth. -- noun A hundredth part.

The neglect of a few centesimals .
Arbuthnot.

Centesimation Cen·tes`i·ma"tion noun [ Latin centesimore to take out or select every hundredth, from centesimus hundredth.] (Mil.) The infliction of the death penalty upon one person in every hundred, as in cases of mutiny.

Centesimo Cen·tes"i·mo (sĕn"tĕs"ĭ*mo) noun ; plural -mi (- mē). [ Italian & Spanish ] A copper coin of Italy and Spain equivalent to a centime.

Centesm Cen"tesm (sĕn"tĕz'm) noun [ Latin centesima .] Hundredth.

Centiare Cen"ti·are` noun [ French See Centare .] See centare .

Centicipitous Cen`ti·cip"i·tous adjective [ Latin centiceps , -cipitis ; centum a hunder + caput head.] Hundred-headed.

Centifidous Cen·tif"i·dous adjective [ Latin centifidus ; centum + findere to split.] Divided into a hundred parts.

Centifolious Cen`ti·fo"li·ous adjective [ Latin centifolius ; centum + folium leaf.] Having a hundred leaves.

Centigrade Cen"ti·grade adjective [ Latin centum a hundred + gradus degree: confer French centigrade .] Consisting of a hundred degrees; graduated into a hundred divisions or equal parts. Specifically: Of or pertaining to the centigrade thermometer; as, 10° centigrade (or 10° C. ).

Centigrade thermometer , a thermometer having the zero or 0 at the point indicating the freezing state of water, and the distance between that and the point indicating the boiling state of water divided into one hundred degrees. It is called also the Celsius thermometer , from Anders Celsius, the originator of this scale.

Centigram, Centigramme Cen"ti·gram, Cen"ti·gramme noun [ French centigramme ; centi- (L. centum ) + gramme . See Gram .] The hundredth part of a gram; a weight equal to .15432 of a grain. See Gram .

Centiliter, Centilitre Cen"ti·li`ter, Cen"ti·li`tre noun [ French centilitre ; centi (L. centum ) + litre . See Liter .] The hundredth part of a liter; a measure of volume or capacity equal to a little more than six tenths (0.6102) of a cubic inch, or one third (0.338) of a fluid ounce.

Centiloquy Cen·til"o·quy noun [ Latin centum hundred + logui to speak.] A work divided into a hundred parts. [ R.] Burton.

Centime Cen`time" noun [ French, from Latin centesimus . See Centesimal .] (F. Coinage) The hundredth part of a franc; a small French copper coin and money of account.

Centimeter, Centimetre Cen"ti·me`ter, Cen"ti·me`tre noun [ French centimètre ; centi- (L. centum ) + mètre . See Meter .] The hundredth part of a meter; a measure of length equal to rather more than thirty-nine hundredths (0.3937) of an inch. See Meter .

Centinel Cen"ti·nel noun Sentinel. [ Obsolete] Sackville.

Centinody Cen·tin"o·dy noun [ Latin centum a hundred + nodus knot: confer French centinode .] (Botany) A weed with a stem of many joints ( Illecebrum verticillatum ); also, the Polygonum aviculare or knotgrass.

Centiped Cen"ti·ped noun [ Latin centipeda ; centum a hundred + pes , pedis , foot: confer French centipède .] (Zoology) A species of the Myriapoda ; esp. the large, flattened, venomous kinds of the order Chilopoda, found in tropical climates. they are many-jointed, and have a great number of feet. [ Written also centipede ]

Centistere Cen"ti·stere noun [ French centistère ; centi- (l. centum ) + stère .] The hundredth part of a stere, equal to .353 cubic feet.

Centner Cent"ner noun [ Confer German centner a hundred-weight, from Latin centenarius of a hundred, from centum a hundred.] 1. (Metal. & Assaying) A weight divisible first into a hundred parts, and then into smaller parts.

» The metallurgists use a weight divided into a hundred equal parts, each one pound; the whole they call a centner : the pound is divided into thirty-two parts, or half ounces; the half ounce into two quarters; and each of these into two drams. But the assayers use different weights. With them a centner is one dram, to which the other parts are proportioned.

2. The commercial hundredweight in several of the continental countries, varying in different places from 100 to about 112 pounds.

Cento Cen"to noun ; plural Centos . [ Latin cento a garment of several pieces sewed together, patchwork, a poem made up of various verses of another poem.] A literary or a musical composition formed by selections from different authors disposed in a new order.

Centonism Cen"to·nism noun The composition of a cento; the act or practice of composing a cento or centos.

Central Cen"tral adjective [ Latin centralis , from centrum : confer French central . See Center .] Relating to the center; situated in or near the center or middle; containing the center; of or pertaining to the parts near the center; equidistant or equally accessible from certain points.

Central force (Math.) , a force acting upon a body towards or away from a fixed or movable center. -- Center sun (Astron.) , a name given to a hypothetical body about which Mädler supposed the solar system together with all the stars in the Milky Way, to be revolving. A point near Alcyone in the Pleiades was supposed to possess characteristics of the position of such a body.

Central Cen"tral Cen*tra"le noun [ New Latin centrale , from Latin centralis .] (Anat.) The central, or one of the central, bones of the carpus or or tarsus. In the tarsus of man it is represented by the navicular.

Centralism Cen"tral·ism noun 1. The state or condition of being central; the combination of several parts into one whole; centralization.

2. The system by which power is centralized, as in a government.

Centrality Cen·tral"i·ty noun ; plural Centralities The state of being central; tendency towards a center.

Meantime there is a great centrality , a centripetence equal to the centrifugence.
R. W. Emerson.

Centralization Cen`tral·i·za"tion noun [ Confer French centralisation .] The act or process of centralizing, or the state of being centralized; the act or process of combining or reducing several parts into a whole; as, the centralization of power in the general government; the centralization of commerce in a city.

Centralize Cen"tral·ize transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Centralized ; present participle & verbal noun Centralizing .] [ Confer French centraliser .] To draw or bring to a center point; to gather into or about a center; to bring into one system, or under one control.

[ To] centralize the power of government.
Bancroft.

Centrally Cen"tral·ly adverb In a central manner or situation.

Centre Cen"tre noun & v. See Center .

Centric, Centrical Cen"tric, Cen"tric·al adjective Placed in the center or middle; central.

At York or some other centrical place.
Sir W. Scott.

-- Cen"tric*al*ly , adverb -- Cen"tric*al*ness , noun

Centricity Cen·tric"i·ty noun The state or quality of being centric; centricalness.

Centrifugal Cen·trif"u·gal adjective [ Latin centrum center + fugere to flee.] 1. Tending, or causing, to recede from the center.

2. (Botany) (a) Expanding first at the summit, and later at the base, as a flower cluster. (b) Having the radicle turned toward the sides of the fruit, as some embryos.

Centrifugal force (Mech.) , a force whose direction is from a center.

» When a body moves in a circle with uniform velocity, a force must act on the body to keep it in the circle without change of velocity. The direction of this force is towards the center of the circle. If this force is applied by means of a string to the body, the string will be in a state of tension. To a person holding the other end of the string, this tension will appear to be directed toward the body as if the body had a tendency to move away from the center of the circle which it is describing. Hence this latter force is often called centrifugal force . The force which really acts on the body being directed towards the center of the circle is called centripetal force , and in some popular treatises the centripetal and centrifugal forces are described as opposing and balancing each other. But they are merely the different aspects of the same stress. Clerk Maxwell.

Centrifugal impression (Physiol.) , an impression (motor) sent from a nerve center outwards to a muscle or muscles by which motion is produced. -- Centrifugal machine , A machine for expelling water or other fluids from moist substances, or for separating liquids of different densities by centrifugal action; a whirling table. -- Centrifugal pump , a machine in which water or other fluid is lifted and discharged through a pipe by the energy imparted by a wheel or blades revolving in a fixed case. Some of the largest and most powerful pumps are of this kind.

Centrifugal Cen·trif"u·gal noun A centrifugal machine.

Centrifugal filter Cen·trif"u·gal fil"ter A filter, as for sugar, in which a cylinder with a porous or foraminous periphery is rapidly rotated so as to drive off liquid by centrifugal action.

Centrifugence Cen·trif"u·gence noun The property or quality of being centrifugal. R. W. Emerson.

Centring Cen"tring noun See Centring .

Centripetal Cen·trip"e·tal adjective [ Latin centrum center + petere to move toward.] 1. Tending, or causing, to approach the center.

2. (Botany) (a) Expanding first at the base of the inflorescence, and proceeding in order towards the summit. (b) Having the radicle turned toward the axis of the fruit, as some embryos.

3. Progressing by changes from the exterior of a thing toward its center; as, the centripetal calcification of a bone. R. Owen.

Centripetal force (Mech.) , a force whose direction is towards a center, as in case of a planet revolving round the sun, the center of the system, See Centrifugal force , under Centrifugal . -- Centripetal impression (Physiol.) , an impression (sensory) transmitted by an afferent nerve from the exterior of the body inwards , to the central organ.

Centripetence Cen·trip"e·tence noun Centripetency.

Centripetency Cen·trip"e·ten·cy noun Tendency toward the center.

Centriscoid Cen·tris"coid adjective [ New Latin Centriscus (r. Greek ... a kind of fish) + -oid .] (Zoology) Allied to, or resembling, the genus Centriscus , of which the bellows fish is an example.

Centrobaric Cen`tro·bar"ic adjective [ Greek ... a treatise of Archimedes on finding the center of gravity, from ... gravitating toward the center; ... center + ... weight.] Relating to the center of gravity, or to the process of finding it.

Centrobaric method (Math.) , a process invented for the purpose of measuring the area or the volume generated by the rotation of a line or surface about a fixed axis, depending upon the principle that every figure formed by the revolution of a line or surface about such an axis has for measure the product of the line or surface by the length of the path of its center of gravity; -- sometimes called theorem of Pappus , also, incorrectly, Guldinus's properties . See Barycentric calculus , under Calculus .

Centrode Cen"trode noun (Kinematics) In two figures having relative motion, one of the two curves which are the loci of the instantaneous center.

Centroid Cen"troid noun [ Latin centrum + -oid .] The center of mass, inertia, or gravity of a body or system of bodies.

Centrolecithal Cen`tro·lec"i·thal adjective [ Greek ... center + ... yolk of an egg.] (Biol.) Having the food yolk placed at the center of the ovum, segmentation being either regular or unequal. Balfour.

Centrolinead Cen`tro·lin"e·ad noun An instrument for drawing lines through a point, or lines converging to a center.

Centrolineal Cen`tro·lin"e·al adjective [ Latin centrum + linea line.] Converging to a center; -- applied to lines drawn so as to meet in a point or center.

Centrosome Cen"tro·some` noun [ Greek ... center + -... the body.] (Biol.) A peculiar rounded body lying near the nucleus of a cell. It is regarded as the dynamic element by means of which the machinery of cell division is organized.

Centrosphere Cen"tro·sphere noun [ Greek ... centre + sphere .] 1. (Geol.) The nucleus or central part of the earth, forming most of its mass; -- disting. from lithosphere , hydrosphere , etc.

2. (Biol.) The central mass of an aster from which the rays extend and within which the centrosome lies when present; the attraction sphere. The name has been used both as excluding and including the centrosome, and also to designate a modified mass of protoplasm about a centrosome whether aster rays are developed or not.

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