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cen⋅tu⋅ry

  [sen-chuh-ree]
Use century in a Sentence
–noun, plural -ries.
1. a period of 100 years.
2. one of the successive periods of 100 years reckoned forward or backward from a recognized chronological epoch, esp. from the assumed date of the birth of Jesus.
3. any group or collection of 100: a century of limericks.
4. (in the ancient Roman army) a company, consisting of approximately 100 men.
5. one of the voting divisions of the ancient Roman people, each division having one vote.
6. (initial capital letter) Printing. a style of type.
7. Slang. a hundred-dollar bill; 100 dollars.
8. Sports. a race of 100 yards or meters, as in track or swimming, or of 100 miles, as in bicycle racing.
9. Cricket. a score of at least 100 runs made by one batsman in a single inning.
Origin:
1525–35; < L centuria unit made up of 100 parts, esp. company of soldiers, equiv. to cent(um) 100 + -uria, perh. extracted from decuria decury
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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cen·tu·ry   (sěn'chə-rē)   
n.   pl. cen·tu·ries
  1. Abbr. C. or c. or cent.
    1. A period of 100 years.
    2. Each of the successive periods of 100 years before or since the advent of the Christian era.
    3. A unit of the Roman army originally consisting of 100 men.
    4. One of the 193 electoral divisions of the Roman people.
    1. A unit of the Roman army originally consisting of 100 men.
    2. One of the 193 electoral divisions of the Roman people.
  3. A group of 100 things.

[Latin centuria, a group of a hundred, from centum, hundred; see dek in Indo-European roots.]
cen·tu'ri·al adj., cen'tu·ry·long' adj.
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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Century

Cen"tu*ry\, n.; pl. Centuries. [L. centuria (in senses 1 & 3), fr. centum a hundred: cf. F. centurie. See Cent.]

1. A hundred; as, a century of sonnets; an aggregate of a hundred things. [Archaic.]

And on it said a century of prayers. --Shak.

2. A period of a hundred years; as, this event took place over two centuries ago.

Note: Century, in the reckoning of time, although often used in a general way of any series of hundred consecutive years (as, a century of temperance work), usually signifies a division of the Christian era, consisting of a period of one hundred years ending with the hundredth year from which it is named; as, the first century (a. d. 1-100 inclusive); the seventh century (a.d. 601-700); the eighteenth century (a.d. 1701-1800). With words or phrases connecting it with some other system of chronology it is used of similar division of those eras; as, the first century of Rome (A.U.C. 1-100).

3. (Rom. Antiq.) (a) A division of the Roman people formed according to their property, for the purpose of voting for civil officers. (b) One of sixty companies into which a legion of the army was divided. It was Commanded by a centurion.

Century plant (Bot.), the Agave Americana, formerly supposed to flower but once in a century; -- hence the name. See Agave.

The Magdeburg Centuries, an ecclesiastical history of the first thirteen centuries, arranged in thirteen volumes, compiled in the 16th century by Protestant scholars at Magdeburg.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : century
Spanish: siglo,
German: das Jahrhundert,
Japanese: 世紀
More Translations »

century 
1533, "one hundred (of anything)," from L. centuria "group of one hundred" (including a measure of land and a division of the Roman army headed by a centurion), from centum "hundred" (see hundred). The Mod.E. meaning is attested from 1628, short for century of years.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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century

see turn of the century.

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