Geometry. the middle point, as the point within a circle or sphere equally distant from all points of the circumference or surface, or the point within a regular polygon equally distant from the vertices.
a point, pivot, axis, etc., around which anything rotates or revolves: The sun is the center of the solar system.
the source of an influence, action, force, etc.: the center of a problem.
a point, place, person, etc., upon which interest, emotion, etc., focuses: His family is the center of his life.
a principal point, place, or object: a shipping center.
a building or part of a building used as a meeting place for a particular group or having facilities for certain activities: a youth center; The company has a complete recreation center in the basement.
an office or other facility providing a specific service or dealing with a particular emergency: a flood-relief center; a crisis center.
a person, thing, group, etc., occupying the middle position, especially a body of troops.
the core or middle of anything: chocolate candies with fruit centers.
a store or establishment devoted to a particular subject or hobby, carrying supplies, materials, tools, and books as well as offering guidance and advice: a garden center; a nutrition center.
(usually initial capital letter) Government. - the part of a legislative assembly, especially in continental Europe, that sits in the center of the chamber, a position customarily assigned to members of the legislature who hold political views intermediate between those of the Right and Left.
- the members of such an assembly who sit in the Center.
- the political position of persons who hold moderate views.
- politically moderate persons, taken collectively; Centrists; middle-of-the-roaders: Unfortunately, his homeland has always lacked a responsible Center.
Football. - a lineman who occupies a position in the middle of the line and who puts the ball into play by tossing it between his legs to a back.
- the position played by this lineman.
Basketball. - a player who participates in a center jump.
- the position of the player in the center of the court, where the center jump takes place at the beginning of play.
Ice Hockey. a player who participates in a face-off at the beginning of play.
Physiology. a cluster of nerve cells governing a specific organic process: the vasomotor center.
Mathematics. - the mean position of a figure or system.
- the set of elements of a group that commute with every element of the group.
Machinery. - a tapered rod, mounted in the headstock spindle (live center) or the tailstock spindle (dead center) of a lathe, upon which the work to be turned is placed.
- one of two similar points on some other machine, as a planing machine, enabling an object to be turned on its axis.
- a tapered indentation, in a piece to be turned on a lathe, into which a center is fitted.
