centipede
(ˈsɛntɪpiːd)
Also 7 centapee, 8 centapie, centipes, 8–9 centipee, 9 (in Dicts.) centiped.
[ad. L. centipeda centipede, f. centum + pes (ped-) foot. The actual form is perhaps a. F. centipède; centipie, centapee, in W.Indies and early navigators was prob. from Sp.]
a. A name given to wingless vermiform articulated animals having many feet, constituting the order Cheilopoda of the class Myriapoda. Those of tropical countries are very venomous.
| 1601 Holland Pliny II. 381 There be Latine writers who call this worme Centipeda, as if it had an hundred feet. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. 141 Some..with many legs, even to the number of an hundred, as Juli Scolopendræ, or such as are termed centipedes. 1697 W. Dampier Voy. (1729) I. 320 Centapees, call'd by the English 40 Legs..Their Sting or Bite is more raging than a Scorpion. 1727 A. Hamilton New Acc. E. Ind. II. xxxix. 89 [He] was bit in the Calf of the Leg by a Centipee. 1756 P. Browne Jamaica 426 The Centapie is reckoned very venomous. 1794–6 E. Darwin Zoon. (1801) I. 261, I once saw a worm..and observed a centipes hanging at its tail. 1799 G. Hamilton in Asiatic Res. II. 339 Stung by a scorpion, or centipee. 1835 Kirby Hab. & Inst. Anim. II. xvi. 67 A specimen of the giant centipede..more than a foot long. 1847 Carpenter Zool. §823 The Centipede and other carnivorous Myriapods, possessing strong and active limbs, varying in number from fifteen to twenty-one pairs. |
| attrib. 1875 tr. Ziemssen's Cycl. of Med. III. 539 In the case of Centipede bites. |
b. transf. and
fig.| 1866 Thoreau Yankee in Canada i. 16 They made on me the impression, not of many individuals, but of one vast centipede of a man. 1867 F. Francis Angling vii. (1880) 262 The line will make ‘centipedes’ on the water. |
c. Naut. A device consisting of a long piece of wood pierced with holes through which ropes are rove, used for suspending an awning. Also, a strong piece of rope running the length of the boom, with short cross-pieces used in stowing jibs.
| 1883 Man. Seamanship for Boys' Training Ships 138 A Centipede, or, as it is sometimes called, a Euphroe..is used as a crowfoot, fitted with a number of legs, for ridge ropes of awnings. |