catflap.org Online Dictionary Query

  
  
     7. (Arith.) Three figures taken together in numeration; thus,
        140 is one degree, 222,140 two degrees.
  
     8. (Algebra) State as indicated by sum of exponents; more
        particularly, the degree of a term is indicated by the sum
        of the exponents of its literal factors; thus, a^{2b^{3}c
        is a term of the sixth degree. The degree of a power, or
        radical, is denoted by its index, that of an equation by
        the greatest sum of the exponents of the unknown
        quantities in any term; thus, ax^{4 + bx^{2} = c, and
        mx^{2y^{2} + nyx = p, are both equations of the fourth
        degree.
  
     9. (Trig.) A 360th part of the circumference of a circle,
        which part is taken as the principal unit of measure for
        arcs and angles. The degree is divided into 60 minutes and
        the minute into 60 seconds.
  
     10. A division, space, or interval, marked on a mathematical
         or other instrument, as on a thermometer.
  
     11. (Mus.) A line or space of the staff.
  
     Note: The short lines and their spaces are added degrees.
  
     Accumulation of degrees. (Eng. Univ.) See under
        Accumulation.
  
     By degrees, step by step; by little and little; by moderate
        advances. ``I'll leave it by degrees.'' --Shak.
  
     Degree of a curve or surface (Geom.), the number which
        expresses the degree of the equation of the curve or
        surface in rectilinear co["o]rdinates. A straight line
        will, in general, meet the curve or surface in a number of
        points equal to the degree of the curve or surface and no
        more.
  
     Degree of latitude (Geog.), on the earth, the distance on a
        meridian between two parallels of latitude whose latitudes
        differ from each other by one degree. This distance is not
        the same on different parts of a meridian, on account of
        the flattened figure of the earth, being 68.702 statute
        miles at the equator, and 69.396 at the poles.
  
     Degree of longitude, the distance on a parallel of latitude
        between two meridians that make an angle of one degree
        with each other at the poles -- a distance which varies as
        the cosine of the latitude, being at the equator 69.16
        statute miles.
  
     To a degree, to an extreme; exceedingly; as, mendacious to
        a degree.
  
              It has been said that Scotsmen . . . are . . . grave
              to a degree on occasions when races more favored by
              nature are gladsome to excess.        --Prof.
                                                    Wilson.

  Center \Cen"ter\, n. [F. centre, fr. L. centrum, fr. round which
     a circle is described, fr. ? to prick, goad.]
     1. A point equally distant from the extremities of a line,
        figure, or body, or from all parts of the circumference of
        a circle; the middle point or place.
  
     2. The middle or central portion of anything.
  
     3. A principal or important point of concentration; the
        nucleus around which things are gathered or to which they
        tend; an object of attention, action, or force; as, a
        center of attaction.
  
     4. The earth. [Obs.] --Shak.
  
     5. Those members of a legislative assembly (as in France) who
        support the existing government. They sit in the middle of
        the legislative chamber, opposite the presiding officer,
        between the conservatives or monarchists, who sit on the
        right of the speaker, and the radicals or advanced
        republicans who occupy the seats on his left, See Right,
        and Left.
  
     6. (Arch.) A temporary structure upon which the materials of
        a vault or arch are supported in position until the work
        becomes self-supporting.
  
     7. (Mech.)
        (a) One of the two conical steel pins, in a lathe, etc.,
            upon which the work is held, and about which it
            revolves.
        (b) A conical recess, or indentation, in the end of a
            shaft or other work, to receive the point of a center,
            on which the work can turn, as in a lathe.
  
     Note: In a lathe the
  
     live center is in the spindle of the head stock; the
  
     dead center is on the tail stock.
  
     Planer centers are stocks carrying centers, when the object
        to be planed must be turned on its axis.
  
     Center of an army, the body or troops occupying the place
        in the line between the wings.
  
     Center of a curve or surface (Geom.)
        (a) A point such that every line drawn through the point
            and terminated by the curve or surface is bisected at
            the point.
        (b) The fixed point of reference in polar co["o]rdinates.
            See Co["o]rdinates.
  
     Center of curvature of a curve (Geom.), the center of that
        circle which has at any given point of the curve closer
        contact with the curve than has any other circle whatever.
        See Circle.
  
     Center of a fleet, the division or column between the van
        and rear, or between the weather division and the lee.
  
     Center of gravity (Mech.), that point of a body about which
        all its parts can be balanced, or which being supported,
        the whole body will remain at rest, though acted upon by
        gravity.
  
     Center of gyration (Mech.), that point in a rotating body
        at which the whole mass might be concentrated
        (theoretically) without altering the resistance of the
        intertia of the body to angular acceleration or
        retardation.
  
     Center of inertia (Mech.), the center of gravity of a body
        or system of bodies.
  
     Center of motion, the point which remains at rest, while
        all the other parts of a body move round it.
  
     Center of oscillation, the point at which, if the whole
        matter of a suspended body were collected, the time of
        oscillation would be the same as it is in the actual form
        and state of the body.
  
     Center of percussion, that point in a body moving about a
        fixed axis at which it may strike an obstacle without
        communicating a shock to the axis.
  
     Center of pressure (Hydros.), that point in a surface
        pressed by a fluid, at which, if a force equal to the
        whole pressure and in the same line be applied in a
        contrary direction, it will balance or counteract the
        whole pressure of the fluid.