CENTURY

hundred, century, one C

(noun) ten 10s

century

(noun) a period of 100 years

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Noun

century (plural centuries)

A period of 100 consecutive years; often specifically a numbered period with conventional start and end dates, e.g, the twentieth century, which stretches from (strictly) 1901 through 2000, or (informally) 1900 through 1999. The first century AD was from 1 to 100.

A unit in ancient Roman army, originally of 100 army soldiers as part of a cohort, later of more varied sizes (but typically containing 60 to 70 or 80) soldiers or other men (guards, police, firemen), commanded by a centurion.

A political division of ancient Rome, meeting in the Centuriate Assembly.

A hundred things of the same kind; a hundred.

(cricket) A hundred runs scored either by a single player in one innings, or by two players in a partnership.

(snooker) A score of one hundred points.

(sports) A race a hundred units (as meters, kilometres, miles) in length.

(US, informal) A banknote in the denomination of one hundred dollars.

Synonyms

• (period of 100 consecutive years): yearhundred (very rare)

• (Roman army unit): centuria

Meronyms

• (major unit of the Roman army): cohort, maniple, legion

Anagrams

• cuntery, curteyn

Source: Wiktionary


Cen"tu*ry, n.; pl. Centuries. Etym: [L. centuria (in senses 1 & 3), fr. centum a hundred: cf. F. centurie. See Cent.]

1. A hundred; as, a century of sonnets; an aggregate of a hundred things. [Archaic.] And on it said a century of prayers. Shak.

2. A period of a hundred years; as, this event took place over two centuries ago.

Note: Century, in the reckoning of time, although often used in a general way of any series of hundred consecutive years (as, a century of temperance work), usually signifies a division of the Christian era, consisting of a period of one hundred years ending with the hundredth year from which it is named; as, the first century (a. d. 1-100 inclusive); the seventh century (a.d. 601-700); the eighteenth century (a.d. 1701-1800). With words or phrases connecting it with some other system of chronology it is used of similar division of those eras; as, the first century of Rome (A.U.C. 1-100).

3. (Rom. Antiq.) (a) A division of the Roman people formed according to their property, for the purpose of voting for civil officers. (b) One of sixty companies into which a legion of the army was divided. It was Commanded by a centurion. Century plant (Bot.), the Agave Americana, formerly supposed to flower but once in a century; - - hence the name. See Agave.

– The Magdeburg Centuries, an ecclesiastical history of the first thirteen centuries, arranged in thirteen volumes, compiled in the 16th century by Protestant scholars at Magdeburg.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

2 May 2024

BEQUEATH

(verb) leave or give by will after one’s death; “My aunt bequeathed me all her jewelry”; “My grandfather left me his entire estate”


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