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centaur|ˈsɛntɔː(r)|
Forms: (4–5 pl. centauros, -rus, 4 centaury), 4–5 sentawre, 5–7 centaure, 6 centure, 5– centaur.
[ad. L. centaurus, a. Gr. κένταυρος in same sense; of unsettled origin: see Liddell & Scott.]
1. Mythol. A fabulous creature, with the head, trunk, and arms of a man, joined to the body and legs of a horse. In early Greek literature the name appears as that of a savage race of Thessaly, supposed by some to have been the first expert riders the Greeks were acquainted with, and hence to have given rise to the subsequent fables.
c1386Chaucer Monk's T. 109 Off Hercules..He of Centauros leyde the boost adoun. 1475Caxton Jason 8 These Centaurs were an C men that alway helde hem in armes for to kepe the countreye of thessaylle. 1475Bk. Noblesse (1860) 21 He made tame the proude beestis clepid Centaurus, that be halfe man and halfe best. 1578T. N. tr. Conq. W. India 44 Thinking that he hadde bin a Centaure and that the Horse and man was all one incorporate. 1601Holland Pliny I. 189 The Thessalians called Centaures, inhabiting neere to the mountain Pelius, were the first that fought on horseback. 1616Bullokar, Centaures, People of Thessalie. 1680H. More Apocal. Apoc. 88 Such monsters as are usually called Centaures. 1794Sullivan View Nat. II. 177 Many..have held the mammouth to be as fabulous as the centaur. 1885Mag. of Art Sept. 443/1 The shaggy centaur, all beast in mood and well-nigh all beast in form.
2. fig.
a. An unnatural hybrid creation.
b. An intimate union of two diverse natures.
1606Dekker Sev. Sins vii. (Arb.) 49 Sixe of these Centuares (that are halfe man, halfe beast, and halfe diuell). 1641Milton Animadv. (1851) 243 Make our selves rather the Bastards, or the Centaurs of their spirituall fornications. 1820Byron Juan v. clviii, Why don't they knead two virtuous souls for life, Into that moral centaur, man and wife? 1883W. J. Stillman in Century Mag. Oct. 826 Master and servant..a kind of social Centaur, a single brain and a double body.
3. One of the southern constellations.
[1551Recorde Cast. Knowl. (1556) 270 There standeth the centaure Chiron..he hath in him 37 starres.] 1667Milton P.L. x. 328 Satan in likeness of an Angel bright Betwixt the Centaure and the Scorpion stearing. 1836Penny Cycl. VI. 414/2 From Ptolemy's catalogue, it is evident that he considered the Centaur as holding the wolf..in one hand, and a thyrsus in the other.
†4. A kind of ship. Obs.
1622Malynes Anc. Law-Merch. 173 To describe the diuersitie of ships, as Carracks, Galleons, Galeasses, Galleys, Centaureis, ships of Warre, Flyboats, Busses, and all other kind of ships and vessells.
5. attrib. and Comb., as centaur-power; centaur-like adj.
1580Sidney Arcadia (1622) 115 As if Centaur-like he had beene one peece with the horse. 1759Sterne Tr. Shandy i. x, The horse was as good as the rider deserved..they were—centaur-like—both of a piece. 1876Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. I. vii. 123 The thrill of social vanities and centaur-power which belong to human kind.
Hence (chiefly nonce-words) ˈcentaurdom, the estate of centaurs (cf. quot. 1883 in 2 b). centauˈresque a., in the style of a centaur. ˈcentauress, a female centaur. cenˈtaurial a., pertaining to centaurs. cenˈtaurian a., cenˈtauric a., of the nature of a centaur. ˈcentaurize v., to behave brutally like a centaur.
1883W. J. Stillman in Century Mag. Oct. 826 Refusing to recognize Centaurdom as the highest human good. 1842Mrs. Browning Grk. Chr. Poets 160 Something centauresque and of twofold nature. 1754Young Centaur Ded., All but Centauresses are prudes with you. 1841–4Anthon Classic. Dict. s.v. Centauri, [Buttmann] supposes Hippodamia to have been a Centauress, married to the prince of the Lapithæ. 1883W. J. Stillman in Century Mag. Oct. 826 The bluest blood being that of him whose remote forefathers did but follow the original centaurial proposition of taking all they wanted wherever they found it. Ibid. 827 This very class which I have in no disparaging sense termed Centauric, the aristocracy, where social independence has reached its highest. 1846Mozley Ess. (1878) I. 246 Common sense rejects his..centaurian image of an evangelising sceptic. 1816G. S. Faber Orig. Pag. Idol. II. 491 The centauric form of Chivan. 1755Young Centaur ii, Time was, when to centaurize was less ridiculous.
▸ Astron. Also with capital initial. Any of a number of non-cometary minor planets orbiting the sun between the orbits of Saturn and Pluto, rather than in the main asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
The first such planet to be discovered was Chiron, in 1977.
[1979C. T. Kowal et al. in Proc. 81st Symp. Internat. Astron. Union 1978 249 It seems prudent to continue to classify 1977 UB as a minor planet... The discoverer intends to give this object the name Chiron. Chiron was one of the centaurs, and it is suggested that the names of other centaurs be reserved for other objects of this same type that may be discovered in the future.] 1992Astron. Now July 10/3 The new group, unofficially dubbed the Centaurs, has only two members, 1992 AD itself, and the mysterious comet/asteroid Chiron. 1997New Scientist 26 Apr. 13/1 If astronomers are right in assuming that all seven centaurs reflect the same fraction of light hitting them, the brightness of 1997 CU26 suggests that it is slightly larger than Chiron—previously thought to be the largest centaur. 1998Science 29 May 1321/4 Twelve Centaurs have been detected, which indicates that these objects must be replenished from the boundaries of the solar system. |