centric, a.
(ˈsɛntrɪk)
[mod. ad. Gr. κεντρικ-ός pertaining to the centre, f. κέντρον: see centrum.]
1. That is in or at the centre, central.
| c 1590 Marlowe Faustus vi, The substance of this centric earth. 1594 1st Pt. Contention iv. 18 To pierce the bowels of this Centricke earth. a 1631 Donne Poems (1650) 33 Some that have deeper digg'd Loves Mine than I, Say, where his centrique happinesse doth lie. 1642 H. More Song of Soul i. ii. xvi, Centrick all like one pellucid Sun. 1802 G. Colman Br. Grins, Elder Bro. i, Centric in London noise..Proud Covent Garden blooms. |
2. Of, pertaining to, or characterized by a centre.
| 1712 Blackmore Creation ii. (R.) Orbs centric and excentrick he prepares. 1850 Mrs. Browning Dead Pan iv, Stung to life by centric forces. 1884 Bower & Scott De Bary's Phaner. & Ferns 406 In the first type, which may be called the centric, the chlorophyll-parenchyma is uniformly distributed around the entire organ. |
3. Phys. Of or pertaining to a nerve centre.
| 1871 Sir T. Watson Princ. & Pract. Med. (ed. 5) I. 570 When the irritating cause operates directly on the spinal cord itself, he calls the disease centric tetanus. 1873 F. E. Anstie in E. H. Clarke Sex in Educ. 110 A non-inflammatory centric atrophy. 1879 Carpenter Ment. Phys. i. ii. §73. 77 Movements..simply centric, depending upon an excited condition of the ganglionic centres. |
B. quasi-n. A circle or circular orbit with the earth in its centre.
| 1667 Milton P.L. viii. 83 How gird the Sphear With Centric and Eccentric scribl'd o're, Cycle and Epicycle. a 1764 Lloyd Wks. (1774) II. 154 Talk of words little understood, Centric, eccentric, epicycle. |