centrifuge

American  

[sen-truh-fyooj] / ˈsɛn trəˌfyudʒ /

noun

1. an apparatus that rotates at high speed and by centrifugal force separates substances of different densities, as milk and cream.

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verb (used with object)

centrifuged, centrifuging

1. Also to subject to the action of a centrifuge.

centrifuge British  

/ ˈsɛntrɪˌfjuːdʒ, ˌsɛntrɪfjʊˈɡeɪʃən /

noun

1. any of various rotating machines that separate liquids from solids or dispersions of one liquid in another, by the action of centrifugal force

2. any of various rotating devices for subjecting human beings or animals to varying accelerations for experimental purposes

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verb

1. (tr) to subject to the action of a centrifuge

centrifuge Scientific  

/ sĕn′trə-fyo̅o̅j′ /

1. A machine that separates substances of different densities in a sample by rotating the sample at very high speed, causing the substance to be displaced outward, sometimes through a series of filters or gratings. Denser substances tend to be displaced from the center more than ones that are less dense.

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Other Word Forms

• centrifugation
  noun
• recentrifuge
  verb (used with object)

Etymology

Origin of centrifuge

1795–1805; < French, noun use of centrifuge (adj.) < New Latin centrifugus center-fleeing; see centrifugal

Explanation

That ride at the fair that spins you around until you stick to the walls? The device in your washing machine that spins your clothes around quickly to get the water out of them? Those are centrifuges. Centrifuges are used mostly in science. In this application, centrifugal force — the force from spinning that moves things away from the center — separates liquids that have different weights. For example, a centrifuge is used to separate blood cells from plasma cells. When the blood is spun in the centrifuge, the heavier plasma cells separate from the lighter blood cells, and can be collected for other uses.

Example Sentences

It struck the Iran Centrifuge Technology Company, or TESA, in the city of Karaj.

From New York Times • May 27, 2022

Two U.S.-based analysts who spoke to The Associated Press, relying on released pictures and satellite images, identified the affected building as Natanz’s new Iran Centrifuge Assembly Center.

From Washington Times • Jul. 3, 2020

This changed in 2014, when a team of Italian geoscientists published a paper called “Modeling the Failure Mechanisms of Michelangelo’s David Through Small-Scale Centrifuge Experiments.”

From New York Times • Aug. 17, 2016

The company had also been unable to secure a $2 billion loan guarantee and other funding necessary to complete its American Centrifuge Plant, a uranium enrichment facility in Ohio that executives expected would produce much-needed revenue.

From Washington Post • Mar. 6, 2015

So he worked as matter-of-factly as if he were down in the Gs Centrifuge of the Space Medicine Labs where he had been schooled for this trip for months.

From Shipwreck in the Sky by Binder, Eando