dead center - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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.

dead center (plural dead centers) (American spelling)

  1. 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
  2. A nonrevolving center in a lathe.
  3. (idiomatic) The exact center.

idiomatic: precise center

dead center (not comparable)

  1. 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.

dead center (not comparable)

  1. 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.