Centre
[sentә]
Definition
(v. i.) To be placed in a center; to be central.
(v. i.) To be collected to a point; to be concentrated; to rest on, or gather about, as a center.
(v. t.) To place or fix in the center or on a central point.
(v. t.) To collect to a point; to concentrate.
(v. t.) To form a recess or indentation for the reception of a center.
(n. & v.) See Center.
Typist: Sol
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. [Written also Center.] Middle, midst, middle point.
Checked by Blanchard
Definition
n. the middle point of anything esp. a circle or sphere: the middle: the point toward which all things move or are drawn: the chief leader of an organisation—head-centre: the men of moderate political opinions in the French Chamber sitting right in front of the president with extreme men on the right and on the left—further subdivisions are Right-centre and Left-centre: the Ultramontane party in Germany.—v.t. to place on or collect to a centre.—v.i. to be placed in the middle:—pr.p. cen′tring cen′tering; pa.p. cen′tred cen′tered.—adj. Cen′tral belonging to the centre principal dominant: belonging to a nerve-centre of affections caused by injury to the brain or spinal cord.—ns. Centralisā′tion Cen′tralism the tendency to administer by the sovereign or central government matters which would be otherwise under local management.—v.t. Cen′tralise to draw to a centre.—n. Central′ity central position.—advs. Cen′trally Cen′trically.—ns. Cen′tre-bit a joiner's tool turning on a centre for boring circular holes—one of the chief tools of the burglar; Cen′tre-board a shifting keel fitted to drop below and in line with the keel proper in order to increase or diminish the draught of a boat—much used in United States racing yachts; Cen′tre-piece an ornament for the middle of a table ceiling &c.—adjs. Cen′tric Cen′trical relating to placed in or containing the centre.—ns. Cen′tricalness Centric′ity; Cen′trum the body of a vertebra.—Central fire said of a cartridge in which the fulminate is placed in the centre of the base as opposed to rim fire; Central forces forces whose action is to cause a moving body to tend towards a fixed point called the centre of force.—Centre of attraction the point to which bodies tend by the force of gravity; Centre of buoyancy or displacement the point in an immersed body at which the resultant vertical pressure may be supposed to act; Centre of gravity a certain point invariably situated with regard to the body through which the resultant of the attracting forces between the earth and its several molecules always passes; Centre of inertia or mass the centre of a set of parallel forces acting on all the particles of a body each force being proportional to the mass of the particle on which it acts; Centre of oscillation the point in a body occupied by that particle which is accelerated and retarded to an equal amount and which therefore moves as if it were a single pendulum unconnected with the rest of the body; Centre of percussion the point in which the direction of a blow given to a body intersects the plane in which the fixed axis and the centre of inertia lie making the body begin to rotate about a fixed axis without causing any pressure on the axis; Centre of pressure the point at which the direction of a single force which is equivalent to the fluid pressure on the plane surface meets the surface.
Inputed by Barbara
Examples
- Crape, keys, centre-bits, darkies--nothing forgotten? Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist.
- The centre of gravity of Islam shifted across the desert from Damascus to Mesopotamia. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Double cultivators are constructed so that their outside teeth may be adjusted in and out from the centre of the machine to meet the width of the rows between which they operate. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- The doors were at the ends, a row of seats ran along each side of the interior, and a long deal table extended down the centre. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- Here was one centre then, here in the complete darkness beside the unseen, raw grave. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- That is the centre of country gossip. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- The centre of diffusion of wheat was somewhere in the eastern Mediterranean region. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Medina and Mecca were now only of importance as pilgrimage centres, to which the faithful turned to pray. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Nalanda and Taxilla seem to have been considerable educational centres as early as the opening of the schools of Athens. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- British science was largely the creation of Englishmen and Scotchmen[458] working outside the ordinary centres of erudition. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Let him go to centres of culture and civilization. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
- These new industrial centres were at first without schools, without churches. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Of course, this system was intended to be applied in every part of a district to be supplied with current, separate sets of feeders running out from the station to the various centres. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- It is evident that there must have been plenty of religious discussion during the pilgrimage fairs at Mecca and the like centres. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- She felt strange and inevitable, as if she were centred upon the pivot of all existence, there was no further reality. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- Nor did Dobbin try and convince him that Amelia's happiness was not centred in turtle-soup. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- Then for some time the struggle centred upon the town Agrigentum. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Her thoughts are centred in her child. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- It was on little Freddy Van Osburgh, the small slim heir of the Van Osburgh millions, that the attention of Mrs. Hatch's group was centred. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- She cared very little at that moment about being seen with Rosedale: all her thoughts were centred on the object of her search. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- In Germany it centred upon the crown; its noisiest, most conspicuous advocate was the heir-apparent. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Its fashionable life became more and more official, centring upon the Lord Lieutenant in Dublin Castle; its chief social occasion is now a horse show. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
Checker: Peggy