Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • See center.
  • noun See center.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • chiefly British See center.

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

  • noun UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand Alternative form of center.
  • verb UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand Alternative form of center.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a place where some particular activity is concentrated
  • noun a cluster of nerve cells governing a specific bodily process
  • noun the choicest or most essential or most vital part of some idea or experience
  • noun an area that is approximately central within some larger region
  • noun a building dedicated to a particular activity
  • verb move into the center
  • noun the sweet central portion of a piece of candy that is enclosed in chocolate or some other covering
  • noun the object upon which interest and attention focuses
  • noun a low-lying region in central France
  • noun a point equidistant from the ends of a line or the extremities of a figure
  • verb direct one's attention on something

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • This method is that of grouping parts around centres, and several of such groups around larger centres, upward and onward indefinitely; while in living beings, according to their complexity, each individual part, and each individual group of parts with its centre, _is left free to move within its own sphere, yet at the same time is harmonized with the movements of its neighbors through the medium of the common centre_.

    The Continental Monthly, Vol. III, No. V, May, 1863 Devoted to Literature and National Policy Various

  • At the lower part of the area which controls the muscles of the different parts of the body, above and a little in front of the tip of the ear, lies a very important centre, which controls the movements of the tongue and lips, and is known as the _speech centre_.

    A Handbook of Health Woods Hutchinson 1896

  • He therefore ordered his heaviest ship, the _Cornwall_, 74, to go there from the centre, exchanging places with the _Centurion_, 50, and at the same time signalled the fleet to close _to the centre_, -- a detail worth remembering in view of Rodney's frustrated manoeuvre of April 17th,

    The Major Operations of the Navies in the War of American Independence 1877

  • In Milton's MS. it is 'bestud the centre with their star-light,' _centre_ being the 'centre of the earth.'

    Milton's Comus John Milton 1641

  • ... with their trunks (the beams carefully supported at their centre of gravity, the logs carefully supported at their centre of gravity, the elephants without a smile at_ their _centre of gravity)

    Rhymes of the East and Re-collected Verses

  • The point to which we wish particularly to direct attention in connexion with this exposition of the phænomena attending the transmission of a storm is this: -- If the observer so place himself at the commencement that the wind passes _from his left hand towards his right_, his face will be directed towards the centre of the storm; and the wind undergoing no change in direction, but only in force, will acquaint him with this important fact that the _centre_ is not only gradually but surely approaching him: in other words, in the case before us, when he finds the wind from the S.E., and he places himself with his face to the

    The Hurricane Guide Being An Attempt To Connect The Rotary Gale Or Revolving Storm With Atmospheric Waves. William Radcliff Birt 1842

  • To give an idea of scale, the large pink bead in centre is about 1.5 "in diameter and about 3/4" thick.

    Double Monday giveaway katelnorth 2007

  • To give an idea of scale, the large pink bead in centre is about 1.5 "in diameter and about 3/4" thick.

    Archive 2007-09-01 katelnorth 2007

  • In the centre is an enormous circular counter … We ascend a broad staircase, which leads to ‘The Lounging Rooms’, and to the first of a series of circular galleries, lighted from the lantern of the dome, which also lights the ground floor.

    Big Box Bookstore of the 1790s 2009

  • In the centre is an enormous circular counter … We ascend a broad staircase, which leads to ‘The Lounging Rooms’, and to the first of a series of circular galleries, lighted from the lantern of the dome, which also lights the ground floor.

    2009 November 18 | NIGEL BEALE NOTA BENE BOOKS 2009

Comments

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  • Does anyone know why Brits use -re while Americans use -er? Surely it's not arbitrary. And similarly, how about -ise and -ize?

    April 19, 2011

  • My guess is it was one of the spellings regularized by Webster - it would have come into English from French, presumably, hence originally "-re".

    April 19, 2011

  • Is that the same for all those extra U's in colour and flavour, etc.?

    April 19, 2011

  • I think so.

    April 19, 2011