centage 
centage (sen'taj), . [< cent + -age. Ct. per- 
ccntayc.] Kate by the cent or hundred; per- 
centage. [Rare.] 
cental (seu'tiil), a. and n. [< L. centum, = E. 
hundred, + -?.] I. a. Pertaining to or con- 
sisting of a hundred ; reckoning or proceeding 
by the hundred. 
II. n. A weight of 100 pounds avoirdupois, 
used at Liverpool for corn, and proposed to be 
generally adopted in the trade and commerce 
of Great Britain. 
centaur (sen'tar), >i. [< L. ct-ntaurns, < Gr. KCV- 
ravpof, of uncertain origin.] 1. In Gr. myth., 
a monster, half man and half horse, descended 
from Ixioii and Nephele, the cloud. The myth is 
probably of Eastern 
origin. The cen- 
taurs, supposed to 
have inhabited 
Thessaly, were nult- 
ami savugu beings, 
embodying the de- 
structive and un- 
governable forces 
of nature. Chiron, 
the wise instructor 
of Achilles, ami 
1'holus, the friend 
of Hercules, were 
beneficent cen- 
taurs. In art the 
centaur was origi- 
nally represented as 
a complete man, to 
whose body were 
attached, behind, 
the barrel and hind 
quarters of a horse ; 
later this ungainly 
combination was 
abandoned, and 
was universally re- 
Centaur. Museo Capitolino, Rome. placed by the form 
in which the human 
body to the waist took the place of the head and neck of 
the horse. Examples of the primitive type of centaur 
survive on archaic painted vases, in a few small bronzes, 
terra-cottas, etc., among the reliefs from the temple of 
Assos, and in certain wall-paintings. 
Come, come, be every one officious 
To make this banquet, which I wish may prove 
More stern and bloody than the Centaurs' feast. 
Shak., Tit. And., v. 2. 
2. [cap."] The constellation Centaurus. 3. In 
her. See sagittary. 
Centaurea (sen-ta're-a), . [NL.,< L. centauria, 
-earn, -ion, < Gr. Kevravpewv, -tov, -ir/, -ia, -if, een- 
taury, < Kevravpof, centaur; feigned to have 
cured a wound in the foot of the centaur Chi- 
ron.] 1. A very extensive genus of herbaceous 
plants, natural order Composite, allied to the 
thistles. The species are annual or perennial herbs, with 
alternate leaves and single heads, all the florets of which 
are tubular. They are found in Europe, western Asia, and 
northern Africa, with a single species in the United States, 
and two or three in Chili. The annuals, C. Cyamu (corn- 
bluebottle), C. moschata (purple or white sultan), and C. 
auaveolens (yellow sultan), are sometimes cultivated in gar- 
dens, as are also some perennials especially for their foli- 
age ; hut the species in general are of very little impor- 
tance, and many are mere weeds. 
2. [V. c. ] A plant of this genus. 
centauress (sen'ta-res), n. [< centaur + -ess.} 
A female centaur. 
His [Zeuxis'sl picture of a centauress suckling her young, 
the spectators of which forgot the painter in the subject. 
Encyc. Brit., II. 363. 
centaurian (sen-ta'ri-an), a. [< centaur + -tan.] 
Pertaining to a centaur. C. 0. Mutter, Manual 
of Archseol. 
centauriet, An obsolete form of centatiry. 
centaurize (sen'ta-riz), v. i. ; pret. and pp. cen- 
taurized, ppr. centaurlzing, [< centaur + -ize.~\ 
To act like a centaur; make a brute of one's 
self. Young. [Rare.] 
centauromachia (sen-ta"ro-mak'i-a), n. [L.] 
Same as centauromachy. 
The seventeen known antique illustrations of this cen- 
tauromachia. 
J. T. Clarke, Archajol. Investigations at Assos, 1881, p. 108.' 
centauromachy (sen-ta-rom'a-ki), . [< L. 
Centauromachia, name of a poem, < Gr. Kfvravpo- 
/ia^i'a, < KsvTavpog. centaur, + jia-xn, fight, con- 
test.] In art and archccol., a contest in which 
centaurs take part ; especially, a fight between 
centaurs and men; in Gr. myth., a battle be- 
tween Hercules and the centaurs, or between 
the Lapithse, aided by the Athenians, and the 
centaurs. 
Centaurus (sen-ta'rus), . [L. : see centaur.'] 
An ancient southern constellation, situated be- 
tween Argus and Scorpio, pictured to represent 
a centaur holding a Bacchic wand, its brightest 
star, a Centauri, is the third brightest in the heavens, being 
a quarter of a magnitude brighter than Arcturus; it is of 
a reddish color. Its second star, /3, a white star, is about 
as bright as Betelgeuse, and is reckoned the eleventh in 
884 
the heavens in order of brightness. These two stars are 
situated near each other on the parallel of 00' south, a 
little east of the Southern Cross. Centaurus has, besides, 
rhe Constellation Centaurus. 
two stars of the second magnitude and seven of the third, 
;uid is a splendid constellation. 
centaury (sen'ta-ri), n. [< ME. centaurie, cen- 
tury (Chaucer), < L. centauriti : see Centaurea.] 
The popular name of various plants, chiefly of 
the knapweed, Centaurea nif/ra. The greater cen- 
taury of the old herbals was agentianaceous plant, Chlora 
l>erfoliata, and the lesser centaury was Erythrcea Centau- 
rin'ni. In the United States the name is given to species of 
the genus Sahh/ttin. 
centavo (Sp. pron. then-ta'vo), n. [Sp., < L. 
iTiitiiiii, a hundred: see hundred.] A cent, or 
hundredth part of a dollar or peso, in Chili, 
Paraguay, Venezuela, Manila, etc. 
centen (Sp. pron. then-tan'), n. [Sp. centen, < L. 
eenteni, pi., a hundred each: see centenary.'] A 
Spanish gold coin, the doblon de Isabella, first 
struck in 1854, and worth $5.02 in United States 
rD., = G.Dan. Sw. 
center 
of a great man: as, the centenary of Burns; the 
centenary of the Constitution of the United 
States. [Now the usual meaning.] 3. A cen- 
tenarian. 
Centenaries, he thought, must have been ravens and tor- 
tnisrs. Southey, Doctor, cxxxii. 
centeniert, [< F. centenier = Pr. centenier, 
a centurion, < ML. centenarius, a centurion, a 
minor judge: see centenarius.] One of a divi- 
sion containing a hundred. 
They are an hundred chosen out of every town and vil- 
lage, and thereon were termed centeniers or centurians. 
Time's Storehouse. 
centennial (sen-ten'i-al), a. and n. [< ML. 
centennis, a hundred years old, < L. centum, = E. 
hundred, + ai/nnn, a year: see cent and annual. 
Cf. biennial.] I. a. 1. Consisting of or lasting 
a hundred years ; completing a hundred years : 
as, a centennial epoch; the centennial year. 
To her alone I rais'd my strain, 
On her centennial day. 
Mason, Palinodia, Ode x. 
2. Existing for a century or more. [Poetical.] 
That opened through long lines 
Of sacred ilex and centennial pines. Longfellow. 
3. Happening every hundred years ; relating to 
or marking a centenary: as, a centennial cele- 
bration. 
II. n. The commemoration or celebration of 
an event which occurred a hundred years before : 
as, the centennial of American independence. 
[Recent (1876).] 
centennially (sen- ten 'i-al-i), adt: Once in 
every hundred years : as, to celebrate an event 
ccitti'intially. 
center 1 , centre 1 (sen'ter), n. [Centre is the reg- 
ular spelling in England; early mod. E. usually 
center, but also centre, < OF. centre, F. centre = 
Pr. centre = Sp. Pg. It. centra = D. G. Dan. Sw. 
centrum, < L. centrum, < Gr. nivrpov, any sharp 
the sta- 
lence the 
', prick, goad.] 1. 
centenarian (sen-te-na'ri-an), a. and n. [=F. 
centenaire = Sp. Pg. It. centenario, < L. centena- 
rius: see centenary and -a.] I. a. Of or per- 
taining to a centenary, or to a person one hun- 
dred years old. 
II. n. A person a hundred years old or older. 
These [census] lists are revised at irregular intervals, 
and all males alive at the time of the " revision," from 
the new-born babe to the centenarian, are duly inscribed. 
D. M. Wallace, Russia, p. 123. 
centenarianism (sen-te-na'ri-an-izm), n. [< 
centenarian + -ism.] The condition or state of 
living to the age of one hundred years or more. 
Facts concerning centenarianism are still more abun- 
dant in the nineteenth century I than in the eighteenth]. 
Pop. Sci. Mo., XX. 100. 
centenarii, n. Plural of centenarius. 
centenarious (sen-te-na'ri-us), a. [<L. cen- 
tenarius : see centenary.] Belonging to a hun- 
dred years. [Rare.] 
centenarius (sen-te-na'ri-us), n. ; pi. centenarii 
(-5). [ML., < L. centenarius, consisting of a 
hundred: see centenary.] In the Salic and 
other Teutonic legal systems, the president of 
the court of the hundred. 
The centenarius or thungimus of the Frank law was the 
elected head of his hundred, and exercised his jurisdiction 
in company with the king's sacebaro. 
Stubbs, Const. Hist., 45. 
centenary (sen'te-na-ri), a. and n. [< L. cen- 
tenarius, consisting of a hundred, relating to a 
hundred, < centen i, a hundred each, distributive 
adj., < centum = E. hundred: see cent, and cf. 
centenaar, centner, cantor, and quintal, all ult. 
< L. centenarius. In popular use centenary, by 
confusion with centennial, is usually regarded as 
connoting a hundred years.] I. a. Relating to 
or consisting of a hundred ; relating to a period 
of a hundred years; recurring once in every 
hundred years : as, a centenary festival or cele- 
bration. 
Centenary solemnities which occurred but once in a 
hundred years. Fuller. 
II. n.; pi. centenaries (-riz). 1. The space of 
a hundred years. 
One inch of decrease in the growth of men for every cen- 
tenary. Hakewill, Apology, p. 49. 
What I call by this name has grown up in the last cen- 
tenary a word I may use to signify the hundred years 
now ending. De Morgan, in Correspondent of Oct. 28, 1886. 
2. The commemoration or celebration of the 
hundredth anniversary of any event, as the birth 
are equally distant : in a regular figure or body 
the center is a point so situated with reference 
to the circumscribed circle or sphere. 2. The 
middle point or part of any surface or solid. 
The market-place, 
The middle centre of this cursed town. 
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., ii. >. 
From the centre all round to the sea, 
I am lord of the fowl and the brute. Cou>per. 
The center of the glacier, like that of a river, moves more 
rapidly than the sides. Tyndall, Forms of Water, p. 61. 
3f. The fixed point once supposed to exist in 
the middle of the universe. In the ancient astron- 
omy this was the earth, or more strictly its middle point, 
either of which was therefore often called simply the cen- 
ter by the older poets. 
I will find 
Where truth is hid, though it were hid indeed 
Within the centre. Shak., Hamlet, ii. 2. 
Is there a justice, 
Or thunder, my Octavio, and he 
Not sunk unto the centre ? 
Fletcher, Spanish Curate, i. 2. 
4. In her., the middle point, whether of the 
whole field or of the chief or 
base. Thus, in the illustration, A 
is the center of the shield, or the 
fesse-point, B is the middle chief- 
point, C is the middle base-point, 
and all three are called centers. 
5. One of the points of the 
two lathe-spindles on which 
an object to be turned is 
placed, distinguished as the 
front or live center, on the ,.,. 
spindle of the head-stock, chief-point; c, middle 
and the dead center, on that 
of the tail-stock ; also, one of two similar points 
for holding an object to be operated on by some 
other machine, as a planing-machine, and en- 
abling the object to be turned round on its 
axis. 6. A point of concentration or diffusion; 
the nucleus about which or into which things are 
collected or from which they diverge or emerge: 
as, a center of attraction; a center of power. 
These institutions collected all authority into one cen- 
tre, kings, nobles, and people. J- Adams. 
The centre of a world's desire. 
Tennyson, In Memoriam, Ixiv. 
7. The central object; the principal point; the 
point of chief interest: as, the center of a dip- 
lomatic negotiation. 8. Milit.: (a) In an army, 
the body of troops occupying the middle place 
in the line, between the wings. (6) In a fleet, 
the division between the van and rear of the 
B 
A 
C 
Heraldic center. 
