Centinel. Same as Sentinel.
Centipede, sen′ti-pēd, n. a general name for the members of one of the orders of the class Myriapoda, being segmented animals bearing jointed appendages, having a well-defined head furnished with feelers and jaws, and breathing by means of air-tubes or tracheæ. [L. centum, and pes, pedis, a foot.]
Centner, sent′ner, n. a common name on the Continent for a hundredweight.
Cento, sen′to, n. a name applied to literary trivialities in the form of poems manufactured by putting together distinct verses or passages of one author, or of several authors, so as to make a new meaning: a composition formed by joining scraps from other authors: expressing contempt, a mere string of commonplace phrases and quotations:—pl. usually Cen′tos.—ns. Cen′toist; Cen′tonism, Cen′toism. [L. cento, Gr. kentrōn, patchwork.]
Centre, Center, sen′tėr, 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. [Fr.,—L. centrum—Gr. kentron, a sharp point.]
Centrifugal, sen-trif′ū-gal, adj. relating to the force directed towards the centre of curvature constantly required to keep a body moving in a curve instead of in its natural straight line: (bot.) applied to an inflorescence when the development proceeds from the apex towards the base of the axis or leaf, as opposed to centripetal, when it is from the base upwards towards the apex.—n. Cen′trifuge, a centrifugal machine. [L. centrum, and fug-ĕre, to flee from.]
Centripetal, sen-trip′et-al, adj. of a force impelling a body towards some point as a centre. [L. centrum, and pet-ĕre, to seek.]
Centrobaric, sen-tro-bar′ik, adj. relating to the centre of gravity. [L. centrum, and Gr. baros, weight.]
Centrode, sen′trōd, n. a locus traced out by the successive positions of an instantaneous centre of pure rotation.
Centumvir, sen-tum′vir, n. one of the Roman judges chosen annually for civil suits, originally 105 in number (three from each of the thirty-five tribes):—pl. Centum′virī.—n. Centum′virate. [L. centum, a hundred, and vir, a man.]