dead center

[ded sen-ter]

adverb

1. in or at the exact midpoint.

   The town is located dead center between Dallas and Houston.

   She took a single shot and hit the cardboard figure dead center.

noun

1. the exact center or midpoint.

   I live in the dead center of the capitol, and parking is a nightmare.

   I hate when people leave their shopping cart in the dead center of the aisle.

2. Machinery.

   1. Also called dead point. (in a reciprocating engine) either of two positions at which the crank cannot be turned by the connecting rod, occurring at each end of a stroke when the crank and connecting rod are in the same line.

   2. a tapered rod, mounted in the tailstock spindle of a lathe, upon which the work to be turned is placed.

Other Word Forms

• dead-center adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of dead center¹

First recorded in 1870–75

Related Words

• center 
• omphalos