dead center
See also: dead-center and deadcenter
English
[edit]
Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]The sense referring to a piston position was originally a variant of earlier dead-point. The adjective carries two of its senses at once in this construction: both "exact" and "without force imparted". As the piston passes through dead center, there is an instant when it is neither being pushed nor being pulled.
Pronunciation
[edit]Audio (General Australian): (file)
Noun
[edit]dead center (plural dead centers) (American spelling)
- Synonym of dead point: the position at which a crank is in a direct line with a connecting rod.
- Hyponyms: bottom dead center, top dead center
- A nonrevolving center in a lathe.
- (idiomatic) The exact center.
- 1894, Buffalo Bill, Wild Bill, the Dead-Center Shot:
Synonyms
[edit]- (exact center): bullseye
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]position of the crank of a piston when it is in line with the connecting rod
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idiomatic: precise center
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Adjective
[edit]dead center (not comparable)
- Alternative form of dead-center
- 2000, L. R. Manley, Thrillseekers.Com: A Novel:
- Dead center on its back was the design of a large, blue eye that somehow looked familiar.
- 2015, Sybil Bartel, Impossible Promise:
- It was this side of new, set back from the street in a lot dead center at the end of a cul-de-sac.
Adverb
[edit]dead center (not comparable)
- Alternative form of dead-center
- 2013, Ellie James, Broken Illusions:
- Now, the Ouija board sat dead center.
- 2013, Jaye Wells, Rusted Veins: A Sabina Kane Novella:
- Damascus White sat dead center in the back of the booth.
- 2013, Jenny Han, Siobhan Vivian, Fire with Fire:
- I give it a flick, so the daisy charm swings back and forth like a pendulum, dead center in the middle of his windshield.
References
[edit]- “dead-ˌcentre | dead-ˌcenter, n.”, in OED Online
, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1894.
