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center - 11 dictionary results

cen⋅ter

  [sen-ter]
Use center in a Sentence
–noun
1. Geometry. the middle point, as the point within a circle or sphere equally distant from all points of the circumference or surface, or the point within a regular polygon equally distant from the vertices.
2. a point, pivot, axis, etc., around which anything rotates or revolves: The sun is the center of the solar system.
3. the source of an influence, action, force, etc.: the center of a problem.
4. a point, place, person, etc., upon which interest, emotion, etc., focuses: His family is the center of his life.
5. a principal point, place, or object: a shipping center.
6. a building or part of a building used as a meeting place for a particular group or having facilities for certain activities: a youth center; The company has a complete recreation center in the basement.
7. an office or other facility providing a specific service or dealing with a particular emergency: a flood-relief center; a crisis center.
8. a person, thing, group, etc., occupying the middle position, esp. a body of troops.
9. the core or middle of anything: chocolate candies with fruit centers.
10. a store or establishment devoted to a particular subject or hobby, carrying supplies, materials, tools, and books as well as offering guidance and advice: a garden center; a nutrition center.
11. shopping center.
12. (usually initial capital letter) Government.
a. the part of a legislative assembly, esp. in continental Europe, that sits in the center of the chamber, a position customarily assigned to members of the legislature who hold political views intermediate between those of the Right and Left.
b. the members of such an assembly who sit in the Center.
c. the political position of persons who hold moderate views.
d. politically moderate persons, taken collectively; Centrists; middle-of-the-roaders: Unfortunately, his homeland has always lacked a responsible Center.
13. Football.
a. a lineman who occupies a position in the middle of the line and who puts the ball into play by tossing it between his legs to a back.
b. the position played by this lineman.
14. Basketball.
a. a player who participates in a center jump.
b. the position of the player in the center of the court, where the center jump takes place at the beginning of play.
15. Ice Hockey. a player who participates in a face-off at the beginning of play.
16. Baseball. center field.
17. Physiology. a cluster of nerve cells governing a specific organic process: the vasomotor center.
18. Mathematics.
a. the mean position of a figure or system.
b. the set of elements of a group that commute with every element of the group.
19. Machinery.
a. a tapered rod, mounted in the headstock spindle (live center) or the tailstock spindle (dead center) of a lathe, upon which the work to be turned is placed.
b. one of two similar points on some other machine, as a planing machine, enabling an object to be turned on its axis.
c. a tapered indentation, in a piece to be turned on a lathe, into which a center is fitted.
–verb (used with object)
20. to place in or on a center: She centered the clock on the mantelpiece.
21. to collect to or around a center; focus: He centered his novel on the Civil War.
22. to determine or mark the center of: A small brass star centered the tabletop.
23. to adjust, shape, or modify (an object, part, etc.) so that its axis or the like is in a central or normal position: to center the lens of a telescope; to center the work on a lathe.
24. to place (an object, part, etc.) so as to be equidistant from all bordering or adjacent areas.
25. Football. snap (def. 20).
26. to pass (a basketball, hockey puck, etc.) from any place along the periphery toward the middle of the playing area.
–verb (used without object)
27. to be at or come to a center.
28. to come to a focus; converge; concentrate (fol. by at, about, around, in, or on): The interest of the book centers specifically on the character of the eccentric hero. Political power in the town centers in the position of mayor.
29. to gather or accumulate in a cluster; collect (fol. by at, about, around, in, or on): Shops and municipal buildings center around the city square.
—Idiom
30. on center, from the centerline or midpoint of a structural member, an area of a plan, etc., to that of a similar member, area, etc.: The studs are set 30 inches on center. Abbreviation: o.c.
Also, especially British, centre.

Origin:
1325–75; var. of ME centre < L centrum < Gk kéntron needle, spur, pivoting point in drawing a circle, deriv. of kenteîn to sting

Related forms:
cen⋅ter⋅a⋅ble, adjective
cen⋅ter⋅less, adjective

Synonyms:
1. See middle.

Antonyms:
1. edge.

Usage note:
28. Although sometimes condemned for alleged illogicality, the phrases center about and center around have appeared in edited writing for more than a century to express the sense of gathering or collecting as if around a center: The objections center around the question of fiscal responsibility.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To center
cen·ter   (sěn'tər)   
n.  
  1. A point or place that is equally distant from the sides or outer boundaries of something; the middle: the center of a stage.
    1. A point equidistant from the vertices of a regular polygon.
    2. A point equidistant from all points on the circumference of a circle or on the surface of a sphere.
    3. A place where a particular activity or service is concentrated: a medical center.
    4. A point of origin, as of influence, ideas, or actions: a center of power; a center of unrest.
    5. An area of dense population: a metropolitan center.
    6. A small conical hole made in a piece of work with a center punch so that a drill can be accurately positioned within it.
    7. A bar with a conical point used to support work, as during turning on a lathe.
  3. A point around which something rotates or revolves: The sun is the center of our solar system.
  4. A part of an object that is surrounded by the rest; a core: chocolates with soft centers.
    1. A place where a particular activity or service is concentrated: a medical center.
    2. A point of origin, as of influence, ideas, or actions: a center of power; a center of unrest.
    3. An area of dense population: a metropolitan center.
    4. A small conical hole made in a piece of work with a center punch so that a drill can be accurately positioned within it.
    5. A bar with a conical point used to support work, as during turning on a lathe.
  6. A person or thing that is the chief object of attention, interest, activity, or emotion.
  7. A person, object, or group occupying a middle position.
  8. often Center A political group or a set of policies representing a moderate view between those of the right and the left.
  9. Physiology A group of neurons in the central nervous system that control a particular function: the vasomotor center.
  10. Sports A player who holds a middle position on the field, court, or forward line in some team sports, such as football and basketball.
  11. Baseball Center field.
    1. A small conical hole made in a piece of work with a center punch so that a drill can be accurately positioned within it.
    2. A bar with a conical point used to support work, as during turning on a lathe.
  13. Architecture A centering.
v.   cen·tered, cen·ter·ing, cen·ters

v.   tr.
  1. To place in or at the center: centered the vase on the table.
  2. To direct toward a center or central point; concentrate or focus: tried to center the discussion on the main issues.
  3. Sports
    1. To pass (a ball or puck) toward the center of a playing area.
    2. To play as a center on (a line), as in ice hockey.
  4. Football To pass (the ball) back between the legs to begin a down.
v.   intr.
  1. To be concentrated; cluster: The epidemic centered in the urban areas.
  2. To have a central theme or concern; be focused: Her novels center on the problems of adolescence.
  3. Sports To play as a center.

[Middle English centre, from Old French, from Latin centrum, from Greek kentron, center of a circle, from kentein, to prick; see kent- in Indo-European roots.]
Synonyms: These nouns refer to a region, person, or thing around which some activity is concentrated: a great cultural center; the focus of research efforts; the headquarters of a multinational corporation; a town that is the heart of the colony; the hub of a steel empire; the seat of government.

Usage Note: Traditionally, the verb center may be freely used with the prepositions on, upon, in, or at; but some language critics have denounced its use with around as illogical or physically impossible. But the fact that writers persist in using this phrase in sentences such as The discussion centered around the need for curriculum reform, a sentence that 71 percent of the Usage Panel accepts, suggests that many people perceive center around to best represent the true nature of what they are trying to say. Indeed, in an example like A storm of controversy centered around the king, the only appropriate choice seems to be around. Still, if one wishes to avoid the phrase center around, the phrase revolve around is available as an option. Since center can represent various relations involving having, finding, or turning about a center, the choice of a preposition depends on what is intended. There is ample evidence for usages with each preposition listed above. The Panel accepts all of these uses except the one with at. Seventy-seven percent reject the sentence The company has been centered at Atlanta for the last five years. See Usage Note at equal.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Center

Cen"ter\, n. [F. centre, fr. L. centrum, fr. round which a circle is described, fr. ? to prick, goad.]

1. 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.

2. The middle or central portion of anything.

3. 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.

4. The earth. [Obs.] --Shak.

5. 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.

6. (Arch.) A temporary structure upon which the materials of a vault or arch are supported in position until the work becomes self-supporting.

7. (Mech.) (a) One of the two conical steel pins, in a lathe, etc., upon which the work is held, and about which it revolves. (b) 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.

Note: In a lathe the

live center is in the spindle of the head stock; the

dead center is on the tail stock.

Planer centers are stocks carrying centers, when the object to be planed must be turned on its axis.

Center of an army, the body or troops occupying the place in the line between the wings.

Center of a curve or surface (Geom.) (a) A point such that every line drawn through the point and terminated by the curve or surface is bisected at the point. (b) The fixed point of reference in polar co["o]rdinates. See Co["o]rdinates.

Center of curvature of a curve (Geom.), the center of that circle which has at any given point of the curve closer contact with the curve than has any other circle whatever. See Circle.

Center of a fleet, the division or column between the van and rear, or between the weather division and the lee.

Center of gravity (Mech.), that point of a body about which all its parts can be balanced, or which being supported, the whole body will remain at rest, though acted upon by gravity.

Center of gyration (Mech.), that point in a rotating body at which the whole mass might be concentrated (theoretically) without altering the resistance of the intertia of the body to angular acceleration or retardation.

Center of inertia (Mech.), the center of gravity of a body or system of bodies.

Center of motion, the point which remains at rest, while all the other parts of a body move round it.

Center of oscillation, the point at which, if the whole matter of a suspended body were collected, the time of oscillation would be the same as it is in the actual form and state of the body.

Center of percussion, that point in a body moving about a fixed axis at which it may strike an obstacle without communicating a shock to the axis.

Center of pressure (Hydros.), that point in a surface pressed by a fluid, at which, if a force equal to the whole pressure and in the same line be applied in a contrary direction, it will balance or counteract the whole pressure of the fluid.

Center

Cen"ter\, Centre \Cen"tre\ v. i. [imp. & p. p. Centered or Centred; p. pr. & vb. n. Centering or Centring.]

1. To be placed in a center; to be central.

2. To be collected to a point; to be concentrated; to rest on, or gather about, as a center.

Where there is no visible truth wherein to center, error is as wide as men's fancies. --Dr. H. More.

Our hopes must center in ourselves alone. --Dryden.

Center

Cen"ter\, Centre \Cen"tre\, v. t. 1. To place or fix in the center or on a central point. --Milton.

2. To collect to a point; to concentrate.

Thy joys are centered all in me alone. --Prior.

3. (Mech.) To form a recess or indentation for the reception of a center.

Center

Cen"ter\, or Centre \Cen"tre\, seal \seal\ . (Gas Manuf.) A compound hydraulic valve for regulating the passage of the gas through a set of purifiers so as to cut out each one in turn for the renewal of the lime.

Center

Center\, or Centre \Centre\, punch \punch\ . (Mech.) (a) A punch for making indentations or dots in a piece of work, as for suspension between lathe centers, etc. (b) A punch for punching holes in sheet metal, having a small conical center to insure correct locating.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : center
Spanish: centro,
German: das Zentrum,
Japanese: センター
More Translations »

center 
c.1374, from O.Fr. centre, from L. centrum "center," orig. fixed point of the two points of a compass, from Gk. kentron "sharp point, goad," from kentein "stitch," from PIE base *kent- "to prick" (cf. Breton kentr "a spur," O.H.G. hantag "sharp, pointed"). The verb is from 1622. Spelling with -re popularized in Britain by Johnson's dictionary, though -er is older. Centrist is 1872, from Fr. politics. Central as U.S. colloquial for "central telephone exchange" is first recorded 1889.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Main Entry: cen·ter
Variant: or chiefly British cen·tre /'sent-&r/
Function: noun
: a group of nerve cells having acommon function center> called also nerve center
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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center cen·ter (sěn'tər)
n.

  1. A point or place in the body that is equally distant from its sides or outer boundaries; the middle.
  2. A group of neurons in the central nervous system that control a particular function.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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center

In addition to the idiom beginning with center, also see front and center.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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