centuries

1 definition found

centuries - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Century \Cen"tu*ry\, n.; pl. Centuries. [L. centuria (in
     senses 1 & 3), fr. centum a hundred: cf. F. centurie. See
     Cent.]
     1. A hundred; as, a century of sonnets; an aggregate of a
        hundred things. [Archaic.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
              And on it said a century of prayers.  --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. A period of a hundred years; as, this event took place
        over two centuries ago.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: Century, in the reckoning of time, although often used
           in a general way of any series of hundred consecutive
           years (as, a century of temperance work), usually
           signifies a division of the Christian era, consisting
           of a period of one hundred years ending with the
           hundredth year from which it is named; as, the first
           century (a. d. 1-100 inclusive); the seventh
           century (a.d. 601-700); the eighteenth century
           (a.d. 1701-1800). With words or phrases connecting
           it with some other system of chronology it is used of
           similar division of those eras; as, the first century
           of Rome (A.U.C. 1-100).
           [1913 Webster]
  
     3. (Rom. Antiq.)
        (a) A division of the Roman people formed according to
            their property, for the purpose of voting for civil
            officers.
        (b) One of sixty companies into which a legion of the army
            was divided. It was Commanded by a centurion.
            [1913 Webster]
  
     Century plant (Bot.), the Agave Americana, formerly
        supposed to flower but once in a century; -- hence the
        name. See Agave.
  
     The Magdeburg Centuries, an ecclesiastical history of the
        first thirteen centuries, arranged in thirteen volumes,
        compiled in the 16th century by Protestant scholars at
        Magdeburg.
        [1913 Webster]