centre

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
centre /ˈsentə(r)/ (US center)

▶noun

• 1 a point or part in the middle of something that is equally distant from all of its sides, ends, or surfaces.

  ■ the middle player in some team games.

  ■ (in some team games) a kick, hit, or throw of the ball from the side to the middle of the field.

• 2 a point to or from which an activity or process is directed: the city was a centre of discontent.

• 3 a place or group of buildings where a specified activity is concentrated: a conference centre.

▶verb

• 1 place in the centre.

  ■ (in some team games) kick, hit, or throw (the ball) from the side to the middle of the field.

  ■ chiefly N. Amer. play as the middle player in some team games.

• 2 (centre on/around) have as a major concern or theme.

  ■ (be centred in) occur mainly in or around.

– phrases
centre of attention a person or thing that excites everyone's interest or concern.
centre of attraction

• 1 Physics the point to which bodies tend by gravity.

• 2 another term for centre of attention.

centre of curvature Mathematics the centre of a circle which passes through a curve at a given point and has the same tangent and curvature at that point.
centre of excellence a place where the highest standards are maintained.
centre of gravity a point from which the weight of a body or system may be considered to act. In uniform gravity it is the same as the centre of mass.
centre of mass a point representing the mean position of the matter in a body or system.
centre of pressure Physics a point on a surface through which the resultant force due to pressure passes.

– derivatives
centremost adjective.

– origin ME: from OFr., or from L. centrum, from Gk kentron ‘sharp point, stationary point of a pair of compasses’, rel. to kentein ‘to prick’.