Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Greek mythology One of a race of monsters having a head, trunk, and arms of a man, and the body and legs of a horse.
  • noun A skillful horseman or horsewoman.
  • noun rocketry A U.S. upper stage, with a restartable liquid-propellant engine, used with an Atlas or Titan booster to launch satellites and probes.
  • noun astronomy An icy planetoid that orbits the Sun between Jupiter and Neptune

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

{ME}; Latin Centaurus; Greek (Kentauros); (Eng. usg. ca. 14c)

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Examples

  • The name Centaur, which so much resembles the Greek verb κεντέω, ‘to spur,’ we fancy gave origin to the fiction.

    The Metamorphoses of Ovid Literally Translated into English Prose, with Copious Notes and Explanations 43 BC-18? Ovid 1847

  • If the data match, scientists will be able to say with a good deal of certainty that Phoebe is indeed a "Centaur" -- an asteroid that has migrated from the Kuiper Belt into the inner solar system.

    Cassini Nears Strange Saturn Moon 2004

  • Via Technologies Inc., meanwhile, is already selling low-power chips based on the x86 design used by Intel and Advanced Micro Devices Inc., and it recently disclosed a new design called Centaur that is expected to compete with Silverthorne.

    Intel Enters Competition 2008

  • This article incorrectly gave the chip's name as Centaur, which is the name of the Via unit that designed the chip.

    Intel Enters Competition 2008

  • An article Monday incorrectly gave the chip's name as Centaur, which is the name of the Via unit that designed the chip.

    Corrections & Amplifications 2008

  • Centaur, which is a medley composed of meters of all kinds, we should bring him too under the general term poet.

    Poetics 2002

  • Centaur, which is a medley composed of meters of all kinds, we should bring him too under the general term poet.

    Poetics 2002

  • While most mythological monsters were despicable characters, the Centaur is the only one with a few redeeming qualities.

    HerScopes Charlene Lichtenstein 2000

  • While most mythological monsters were despicable characters, the Centaur is the only one with a few redeeming qualities.

    HerScopes Charlene Lichtenstein 2000

  • While most mythological monsters were despicable characters, the Centaur is the only one with a few redeeming qualities.

    HerScopes Charlene Lichtenstein 2000

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