centre: [14] The word centre came originally from the spike of a pair of compasses which is stuck into a surface while the other arm describes a circle round it. Greek kéntron meant ‘sharp point’, or more specifically ‘goad for oxen’ (it was a derivative of the verb kentein ‘prick’), and hence was applied to a compass spike; and it was not long before this spread metaphorically to ‘mid-point of a circle’. The word reached English either via Old French centre or directly from Latin centrum. The derived adjective central is 16th-century. => eccentric
centre
chiefly British English spelling of center (q.v.); for ending, see -re.
雙語例句
1. Malvolio becomes, in default of competition, the play's moral centre.
因為沒有與其競爭者，馬伏里奧自然成了該劇的道德核心。
來自柯林斯例句
2. The new shopping centre was constructed at a cost of 1.1 million.
新建成的購物中心耗資110萬。
來自柯林斯例句
3. Now we live further away from the city centre.
現(xiàn)在我們住得離市中心更遠了。
來自柯林斯例句
4. They slowly moved from upstage left into the centre.
他們慢慢地從舞臺后方的左側(cè)移至正中。
來自柯林斯例句
5. He had taken up a position in the centre of the room.