centre
Definitions
General English
- noun a large building containing several different sections
- noun an important place for something
- verb to put something in the middle
General Science
- noun a focus for activity or attention, or where activities are coordinated
- verb to move something to a central position
Accounting
- noun a department, area or function to which costs and/or revenues are charged
Cars & Driving
- verb to place (a part) in a central position in relation to another part
Computing
- verb to align the read/write head correctly on a magnetic disk or tape
- verb to place a piece of text in the centre of the paper or display screen
Law
- noun an office or building where people can go for information and advice.
Medical
- noun the middle point, or the main part of something
- noun the point where a group of nerves come together
Politics
- a place where people can go for information or advice
- a building used for a particular activity
- noun the position occupied by parties or people in the middle of the range of political ideas
Publishing
- noun a point in the middle of an area
- noun a group of items in an account
- verb to arrange a piece of text so that the middle of the text is in the middle of the line on the page
Sports
- noun in some sports, an attacking player or position in the middle of the field or court
- noun in Australian Rules football, a player who occupies a position in the centre circle
- verb in some sports, to pass, hit or kick a ball or puck from the edge of the playing area towards the middle
Travel
- noun a group of buildings for a special purpose
Origin & History of “centre”
The word centre came originally from the spike of a pair of compasses which is stuck into a surface while the other arm describes a circle round it. Greek kéntron meant ‘sharp point’, or more specifically ‘goad for oxen’ (it was a derivative of the verb kentein ‘prick’), and hence was applied to a compass spike; and it was not long before this spread metaphorically to ‘mid-point of a circle’. The word reached English either via Old French centre or directly from Latin centrum. The derived adjective central is 16th-century.
