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• cento
  cento

  noun

  a piece of writing, especially a poem, composed wholly of quotations from the works of other authors.
• CENTO
  CENTO

  noun

  a former organization (1959–79) for economic and military cooperation, established as successor to the Baghdad Pact, and comprising Great Britain, Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey. The U.S. had affiliate status.

cento

¹ American  

[sen-toh] / ˈsɛn toʊ /

noun

centos plural

1. a piece of writing, especially a poem, composed wholly of quotations from the works of other authors.

2. anything composed of incongruous parts; conglomeration.

3. Obsolete. a patchwork.

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CENTO ² American  

[sen-toh] / ˈsɛn toʊ /

noun

1. a former organization (1959–79) for economic and military cooperation, established as successor to the Baghdad Pact, and comprising Great Britain, Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey. The U.S. had affiliate status.

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CENTO ¹ British  

/ ˈsɛntəʊ /

acronym

1. Central Treaty Organization; an organization for military and economic cooperation formed in 1959 by the UK, Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey as a successor to the Baghdad Pact: disbanded 1979

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cento ² British  

/ ˈsɛntəʊ /

noun

1. a piece of writing, esp a poem, composed of quotations from other authors

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• centonism
  noun
• centonization
  noun
• centonical
  adjective

Inflected Forms

noun

• centos
  plural

Etymology

Origin of cento¹

First recorded in 1595–1605, cento is from the Latin word centō patchwork quilt or curtain

Origin of CENTO²

Cen(tral) T(reaty) O(rganization)

Example Sentences

Author’s Note: A cento, from the Latin for “patchwork,” is a collage poem composed of lines from other sources.

From Scientific American • Feb. 4, 2023

If not, it should, for Robert Irwin’s ingenious historical fantasy “Wonders Will Never Cease” is a contemporary novelist’s version of the poetic form known as a cento.

From Washington Post • Dec. 27, 2017

While reading a cento, one savored its imaginative repurposing of bits from Horace, Virgil and any number of lesser ancients.

From Washington Post • Dec. 27, 2017

His diction, in like manner, judged by the standard of the cinque cento, is far from choice—loaded with Lombardisms, gaining energy and vividness at the expense of refinement and precision.

From Renaissance in Italy: Italian Literature Part 1 (of 2) by Symonds, John Addington

Page 273, footnote—del amended to dal—"... e ciò ch’è più, essi variano in cento modi senza uscir mai dal naturale, ..."

From The Art of Needle-work, from the Earliest Ages, 3rd ed. Including Some Notices of the Ancient Historical Tapestries by Menzies, Sutherland, fl. 1840-1883