centurion
(sɛnˈtjʊərɪən)
Also 4 -ioun, -ien, -yone, centorioun, 6 centurian.
[a. F. centurion (12th c. in Littré) or ad. L. centurio, -ōnem, f. centuria century. The L. centurio is found unchanged in the Wycliffite versions, and other works of 13th–15th c.]
1. The commander of a century in the Roman army.
| c 1275 Passion our Lord in O.E. Misc. 485 Þet iseyh centurio þat þer bisydes stod. 1382 Wyclif Acts xxi. 32 Knyȝtis takun to, and centuriouns [1388 centuriens]. c 1400 Apol. Loll. 2 Corneli centurio, ȝet vncristund, is clensid wiþ þe Hooli Goost. c 1440 Gesta Rom. lviii. 241 (Harl. MS.) The Emperoure..seide to his centurio, þat he shulde feche that knyȝt. 1525 Tindale Matt. viii. 5 marg. note, Whom I call sometime a centurion, but for the most part a hunder-captain. 1607 Shakes. Cor. iv. iii. 47 The Centurions..to be on foot at an houres warning. 1838–43 Arnold Hist. Rome I. xiii. 223 To seize and execute every centurion whose century had fled. |
2. transf. Any officer in command of 100 men.
| 1382 Wyclif Deut. i. 15, I haue ordeynd hem princes, and tribunes, and centuriouns, and quynquagenaryes, and denes. 1555 Eden Decades W. Ind. i. ii. (Arb.) 72 He sent forth dyuers other Centurians with their hundrethes. c 1730 Burt Lett. N. Scotl. (1818) II. 24 One of the centurions, or captains of a hundred is said to strip his other tenants of their best plaids wherewith to clothe his soldiers. |
3. Sport. A player who makes a hundred or more runs in an innings at cricket; one who has ridden, etc., a hundred miles in one journey; double centurion, a player who makes a double century (see century 3b). colloq.
| 1886 Graphic 31 July 107/2 Some other ‘centurions’ have been Chatterton (108) for M.C.C., A. Shuker (103 not out) for Trent. 1897 Outing (U.S.) XXX. 346/1 There are long-distance riders, too, galore in the N.Y.A.C. and not a few centurions. 1900 Westm. Gaz. 18 July 2/3 This is the third time he has been a double centurion. |