CENTNER

hundredweight, cwt, short hundredweight, centner, cental, quintal

(noun) a United States unit of weight equivalent to 100 pounds

centner

(noun) in some European countries: a unit of weight equivalent to 50 kilograms

hundredweight, metric hundredweight, doppelzentner, centner

(noun) a unit of weight equal to 100 kilograms

Source: WordNet® 3.1

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Etymology

Noun

centner (plural centners)

A unit of weight with different actual definitions in parts of Germany and Scandinavia, typically 100 local pounds.

A nonstandard metric unit of weight equal to 100 kilograms, commonly used as an agricultural measure in Eastern Bloc countries (similar to a bushel.)

Source: Wiktionary

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Cent"ner, n. Etym: [Cf. G. centner a hundred-weight, fr. L. centenarius of a hundred, fr. centum a hundred.]

1. (Metal. & Assaying)

Definition: A weight divisible first into a hundred parts, and then into smaller parts.

Note: The metallurgists use a weight divided into a hundred equal parts, each one pound; the whole they call a centner: the pound is divided into thirty-two parts, or half ounces; the half ounce into two quarters; and each of these into two drams. But the assayers use different weights. With them a centner is one dram, to which the other parts are proportioned.

2. The commercial hundredweight in several of the continental countries, varying in different places from 100 to about 112 pounds.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

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