Center
['sɛntɚ]
Definition
(noun.) a position on a basketball team of the player who participates in the jump that starts the game.
(noun.) (American football) the position of the player on the line of scrimmage who puts the ball in play; 'it is a center's responsibility to get the football to the quarterback'.
(noun.) the position on a hockey team of the player who participates in the face off at the beginning of the game.
(noun.) a building dedicated to a particular activity; 'they were raising money to build a new center for research'.
(noun.) a cluster of nerve cells governing a specific bodily process; 'in most people the speech center is in the left hemisphere'.
(noun.) the object upon which interest and attention focuses; 'his stories made him the center of the party'.
(noun.) the sweet central portion of a piece of candy that is enclosed in chocolate or some other covering.
(noun.) politically moderate persons; centrists.
(noun.) the middle of a military or naval formation; 'they had to reinforce the center'.
(noun.) a place where some particular activity is concentrated; 'they received messages from several centers'.
(noun.) a point equidistant from the ends of a line or the extremities of a figure.
(noun.) an area that is approximately central within some larger region; 'it is in the center of town'; 'they ran forward into the heart of the struggle'; 'they were in the eye of the storm'.
(noun.) (football) the person who plays center on the line of scrimmage and snaps the ball to the quarterback; 'the center fumbled the handoff'.
(noun.) (basketball) the person who plays center on a basketball team.
(noun.) (ice hockey) the person who plays center on a hockey team.
(verb.) move into the center; 'That vase in the picture is not centered'.
(adj.) of or belonging to neither the right nor the left politically or intellectually .
(adj.) equally distant from the extremes .
Checker: Marge--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) A point equally distant from the extremities of a line, figure, or body, or from all parts of the circumference of a circle; the middle point or place.
(n.) The middle or central portion of anything.
(n.) A principal or important point of concentration; the nucleus around which things are gathered or to which they tend; an object of attention, action, or force; as, a center of attaction.
(n.) The earth.
(n.) Those members of a legislative assembly (as in France) who support the existing government. They sit in the middle of the legislative chamber, opposite the presiding officer, between the conservatives or monarchists, who sit on the right of the speaker, and the radicals or advanced republicans who occupy the seats on his left, See Right, and Left.
(n.) A temporary structure upon which the materials of a vault or arch are supported in position until the work becomes self-supporting.
(n.) One of the two conical steel pins, in a lathe, etc., upon which the work is held, and about which it revolves.
(n.) A conical recess, or indentation, in the end of a shaft or other work, to receive the point of a center, on which the work can turn, as in a lathe.
(v. i.) Alt. of Centre
(v. t.) Alt. of Centre
Checker: Witt
Definition
See Centre.
Editor: Mary
Examples
- A genius usually becomes the luminous center of a nation's crisis,--men see better by the light of him. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- In the time of Harun Al-Rashid (800 A.D) and his son, the Caliphate of Bagdad was the center of Arab science. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- Criminology (to use an awkward word) is finding a human center. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- The oven filled with calcium carbide is then electrically heated with a carbon rod running through the center. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- At a signal from Dak Kova the doors of two cages were thrown open and a dozen green Martian females were driven to the center of the arena. Edgar Rice Burroughs. A Princess of Mars.
- As he took each article from the walls, he placed it in a pile in the center of the room. Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
- Pillars are required under the center of the ice. William K. David. Secrets of Wise Men, Chemists and Great Physicians.
- But it is organized in connection with direct practical centers of interest. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- It is quite apparent, therefore, that the weight centers around the nerve. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- Its control over finance has spread until now it affects the whole country and is a rival of the great financial centers of Europe. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- They provide vital centers for the reception and assimilation of information. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- The interest in this machine centers not in its development as used today, but in the fact that it led to the invention and perfection of the self-binder. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- The dance halls, the social centers, the playgrounds, the reception of strangers--these can become instruments for civilizing sexual need. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- Feudalism was doomed by the applications of the new science, for they transferred power from the landed nobility to the manufacturing centers. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- I am attempting to suggest some of the essentials of a statesman's equipment for the work of a humanly centered politics. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- Science was valid, art was valid, the poorest grubber in a laboratory was engaged in a real labor, anyone who had found expression in some beautiful object was truly centered. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- It is centered upon whatever has a bearing upon the effective pursuit of your occupation. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- It is literally eccentric: it has been centered mechanically instead of vitally. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- Activity must be centered at a given time in such a way as to prepare for what comes next. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- Only effort can keep the mind centered truly. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- Tradition has centered upon the tariff, the trusts, the currency, and electoral machinery as the items of consideration. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- It was an excellent example of the creative results that come from centering a political problem on human nature. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- But the vision of the new statecraft in centering politics upon human interests becomes a creator of opportunities instead of a censor of morals, and deserves a fresh and heightened regard. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- A target is not the future goal of shooting; it is the centering factor in a present shooting. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
Checker: Lucy