Part 139

Cent"ner (?), n. [Cf. G. centner a hundred-weight, fr. L. centenarius of a hundred, fr. centum a hundred.] 1. (Metal. & Assaying) A weight divisible first into a hundred parts, and then into smaller parts.

&fist; The metallurgists use a weight divided into a hundred equal parts, each one pound; the whole they call a centner: the pound is divided into thirty-two parts, or half ounces; the half ounce into two quarters; and each of these into two drams. But the assayers use different weights. With them a centner is one dram, to which the other parts are proportioned.

2. The commercial hundredweight in several of the continental countries, varying in different places from 100 to about 112 pounds.

Cen"to (?), n.; pl. Centos (#). [L. cento a garment of several pieces sewed together, patchwork, a poem made up of various verses of another poem.] A literary or a musical composition formed by selections from different authors disposed in a new order.

Cen"to*nism (?), n. The composition of a cento; the act or practice of composing a cento or centos.

Cen"tral (?), a. [L. centralis, fr. centrum: cf. F. central. See Center.] Relating to the center; situated in or near the center or middle; containing the center; of or pertaining to the parts near the center; equidistant or equally accessible from certain points.

Central force (Math.), a force acting upon a body towards or away from a fixed or movable center. -- Center sun (Astron.), a name given to a hypothetical body about which Mńdler supposed the solar system together with all the stars in the Milky Way, to be revolving. A point near Alcyone in the Pleiades was supposed to possess characteristics of the position of such a body.

{ Cen"tral (?), ||Cen*tra"le (?), } n. [NL. centrale, fr. L. centralis.] (Anat.) The central, or one of the central, bones of the carpus or or tarsus. In the tarsus of man it is represented by the navicular.

Cen"tral*ism (?), n. 1. The state or condition of being central; the combination of several parts into one whole; centralization.

2. The system by which power is centralized, as in a government.

Cen*tral"i*ty (?), n.; pl. Centralities (&?;). The state of being central; tendency towards a center.

Meantime there is a great centrality, a centripetence equal to the centrifugence. R. W. Emerson.

Cen`tral*i*za"tion (?), n. [Cf. F. centralisation.] The act or process of centralizing, or the state of being centralized; the act or process of combining or reducing several parts into a whole; as, the centralization of power in the general government; the centralization of commerce in a city.

Cen"tral*ize (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Centralized (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Centralizing.] [Cf. F. centraliser.] To draw or bring to a center point; to gather into or about a center; to bring into one system, or under one control.

centralize the power of government. Bancroft.

Cen"tral*ly, adv. In a central manner or situation.

Cen"tre (?), n. & v. See Center.

{ Cen"tric (?), Cen"tric*al (?), } a. Placed in the center or middle; central.

At York or some other centrical place. Sir W. Scott.

-- Cen"tric*al*ly, adv. -- Cen"tric*al*ness, n.

Cen*tric"i*ty (?), n. The state or quality of being centric; centricalness.

Cen*trif"u*gal (?), a. [L. centrum center + fugere to flee.] 1. Tending, or causing, to recede from the center.

2. (Bot.) (a) Expanding first at the summit, and later at the base, as a flower cluster. (b) Having the radicle turned toward the sides of the fruit, as some embryos.

Centrifugal force (Mech.), a force whose direction is from a center.

&fist; When a body moves in a circle with uniform velocity, a force must act on the body to keep it in the circle without change of velocity. The direction of this force is towards the center of the circle. If this force is applied by means of a string to the body, the string will be in a state of tension. To a person holding the other end of the string, this tension will appear to be directed toward the body as if the body had a tendency to move away from the center of the circle which it is describing. Hence this latter force is often called centrifugal force. The force which really acts on the body being directed towards the center of the circle is called centripetal force, and in some popular treatises the centripetal and centrifugal forces are described as opposing and balancing each other. But they are merely the different aspects of the same stress. Clerk Maxwell.

Centrifugal impression (Physiol.), an impression (motor) sent from a nerve center outwards to a muscle or muscles by which motion is produced. -- Centrifugal machine, A machine for expelling water or other fluids from moist substances, or for separating liquids of different densities by centrifugal action; a whirling table. -- Centrifugal pump, a machine in which water or other fluid is lifted and discharged through a pipe by the energy imparted by a wheel or blades revolving in a fixed case. Some of the largest and most powerful pumps are of this kind.

Cen*trif"u*gal, n. A centrifugal machine.

Cen*trif"u*gence (?), n. The property or quality of being centrifugal. R. W. Emerson.