catflap.org Online Dictionary Query

  Eccentric \Ec*cen"tric\, a. [F. excentrique, formerly also
     spelled eccentrique, fr. LL. eccentros out of the center,
     eccentric, Gr. ?; ? out of + ? center. See Ex-, and
     Center, and cf. Excentral.]
     1. Deviating or departing from the center, or from the line
        of a circle; as, an eccentric or elliptical orbit;
        pertaining to deviation from the center or from true
        circular motion.
  
     2. Not having the same center; -- said of circles, ellipses,
        spheres, etc., which, though coinciding, either in whole
        or in part, as to area or volume, have not the same
        center; -- opposed to concentric.
  
     3. (Mach.) Pertaining to an eccentric; as, the eccentric rod
        in a steam engine.
  
     4. Not coincident as to motive or end.
  
              His own ends, which must needs be often eccentric to
              those of his master.                  --Bacon.
  
     5. Deviating from stated methods, usual practice, or
        established forms or laws; deviating from an appointed
        sphere or way; departing from the usual course; irregular;
        anomalous; odd; as, eccentric conduct. ``This brave and
        eccentric young man.'' --Macaulay.
  
              He shines eccentric, like a comet's blaze. --Savage.
  
     Eccentric anomaly. (Astron.) See Anomaly.
  
     Eccentric chuck (Mach.), a lathe chuck so constructed that
        the work held by it may be altered as to its center of
        motion, so as to produce combinations of eccentric
        combinations of eccentric circles.
  
     Eccentric gear. (Mach.)
        (a) The whole apparatus, strap, and other parts, by which
            the motion of an eccentric is transmitted, as in the
            steam engine.
        (b) A cogwheel set to turn about an eccentric axis used to
            give variable rotation.
  
     Eccentric hook or gab, a hook-shaped journal box on the
        end of an eccentric rod, opposite the strap.
  
     Eccentric rod, the rod that connects as eccentric strap
        with any part to be acted upon by the eccentric.
  
     Eccentric sheave, or Eccentric pulley, an eccentric.
  
     Eccentric strap, the ring, operating as a journal box, that
        encircles and receives motion from an eccentric; -- called
        also eccentric hoop.
  
     Syn: Irregular; anomalous; singular; odd; peculiar; erratic;
          idiosyncratic; strange; whimsical.