concentricadj.n.
/kənˈsɛntrɪk/, /ˌkɒnˈsɛntrɪk/, U.S. /kənˈsɛntrɪk/ A. adj.
1.
a. Of geometric figures or objects: having a common centre or central axis, the larger often completely surrounding the smaller; arranged or described about the same centre or axis; sharing the same centre (with another figure, etc.).Formerly also with †to, †upon.
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the world > space > relative position > central condition or position > [adjective] > having the same centre
concentricc1400
concentrical1570
homocentrical1686
homocentric1696
co-centric1777
the world > relative properties > number > geometry > shape or figure > [adjective] > two-dimensional > circular > concentric
concentricc1400
concentrical1570
c1400 ( G. Chaucer Treat. Astrolabe (Cambr. Dd.3.53) (1872) i. §17. 10 The heued of capricorne turnyth euermo consentryk vp-on the same cercle.
1578 G. Best True Disc. Passage to Cathaya i. 28 For the concaue and conuexs Superficies of ye Orbe of the Sun is concentrike, and equidistant to ye earth.
1585 J. Blagrave Math. Iewel 5 You shall about your small circle describe a very great circle concentrick thereto.
1621 R. Burton Anat. Melancholy ii. ii. iii. 324 Reall orbs, excentricke, concentricke.
1693 R. Bentley Boyle Lect. viii. 11 The concentric Revolutions of the Planets about the Sun.
1715 tr. D. Gregory Elements Astron. I. i. §1. 3 Not perfect Circles, concentric to the Sun.
1788 Public Advertiser 3 Apr. Some of the battalions were arranged in concentric circles.
1808 Asiatic Researches (London ed.) 8 289 The Baudd'hists of Tibet represent these zones as so many concentric squares.
1881 J. C. Maxwell Treat. Electr. & Magnetism (ed. 2) I. 77 An insulated spherical shell concentric with the globe.
1931 E. G. Boulenger Fishes i. 17 These ear bones or ‘otoliths’ bear concentric rings, each of which marks a year's growth, and so give a fair clue to the fish's age.
1987 B. Leatham-Jones Elements Industr. Robotics 230/1 (Gloss.) On a magnetic disc, a track is a circular path concentric with the driving hub.
2005 D. Cruickshank Around World in 80 Treasures 196 The collar includes inlays of turquoise, lapis lazuli and cornelian arranged in 12 concentric rows.
b. figurative with reference to an emotion, action, practice, etc.
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1603 S. Daniel To Lord Henry Howard in Panegyrike sig. D1v It hath a course Concentrike with the Vniuersall frame Of men combind.
a1711 T. Ken Hymnarium 75 in Wks. (1721) II. Till my will mov'd concentrick with thy own.
1771 Fair Orphan i. i. 4 Round it may each other passion In concentric order move.
1871 J. Tyndall Fragm. Sci. (ed. 6) II. ii. 29 Not until this..is the law of reason rendered concentric with the law of nature.
1880 G. Allen in Mind 5 451 A gradual regression or concentric widening of æsthetic feeling around this fixed point.
1935 T. S. Eliot in M. Moore Sel. Poems 9 To set in motion an expanding succession of concentric feelings.
1990 D. S. Blair tr. G. Halimi Milk for Orange Tree 63 These concentric hatreds divided and the occupying power ruled.
2. Specific scientific uses.
a. Chiefly Geology and Mineralogy. Arranged in ring-like layers, typically differing in colour, composition, etc., around a common centre; characterized by such an arrangement. Cf. concentric structure n. at Compounds.
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the world > the earth > minerals > mineral structure or appearance > [adjective] > other structures or forms
columnara1728
concentric1728
scopiform1794
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Pearl The Pearls of the two Colours have this Difference of Texture; not but they are both compos'd of concentric Couches.
1811 J. Pinkerton Petralogy I. 223 If the kernels..retain their uniform concentric tints.
1868 J. D. Dana Syst. Mineral. (ed. 5) 712 Hydrozincite.., in concentric and contorted laminæ and botryoidal crusts.
1908 L. A. Boodle et al. tr. H. Solereder Systematic Anat. Dicotyledons I. 443 Secondary hard bast, sometimes showing concentric differentiation, has been observed by Müller in the cortex of species of Lonicera.
1926 G. W. Tyrrell Princ. Petrol. xiii. 227 Ooliths generally show a series of concentric coats of calcareous material in which a radiating crystalline structure can often be made out.
1999 I. Kostov & R. I. Kostov Crystal Habits Minerals vi. 129 In sedimentary rocks, pyrite occurs mostly as concretions, spherical or elongated, with concentric and radial textures.
b. Zoology. Of the operculum of a mollusc: growing in successive ring-like layers around a nucleus.
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1835 Zool. Jrnl. 5 463 Shell ovate-conical, narrowly umbilicated, differing from Paludina..in having a spiral operculum (like Melania) instead of a concentric lamellar one.
1851 S. P. Woodward Man. Mollusca i. 102 The operculum is..Concentric, when it increases equally all round.
1946 H. Woods Palæontol. Invertebr. (ed. 8) 278 When not spiral it [sc. the operculum] may be concentric, if growth takes place equally all round.
2001 Jrnl. Palaeontol. 75 462 (caption) Views of the external mold and the impression of the outer surface of the concentric operculum.
c. Physiology. Of, relating to, or involving concentric contraction of a muscle or muscles (see concentric contraction (a) at Compounds).
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1858 C. F. Taylor in N. Amer. Jrnl. Homœopathy 7 34 The excentric and concentric movements supply precisely the conditions for remedying the physiological and mechanical impediments to healthful nutrition in both the retracted and relaxed conditions of the tissues.
1890 J. M. Keating Cycl. Dis. Children 323 The left knee is flexed, and a great portion of the weight of the body is thrown upon it, by which action the extensors of the left leg are put into very strong concentric exercise.
1978 A. Gallant Body Treatm. & Dietetics for Beauty Therapist iv. 176 (caption) Concentric movement of biceps.
2006 J. C. Buckley Space Physiol. iv. 89 Concentric exercise is when the muscle is active and shortens... Eccentric exercise is when the muscle is active while it is being lengthened (i.e., when it is serving as a brake).
d. Botany. Designating a vascular bundle in which the xylem tissue surrounds the phloem, or vice versa. Cf. collateral adj. 1e.
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the world > plants > part of plant > cell or aggregate tissue > [adjective] > of xylem or phloem
reticulated1832
reticulate1842
concentric1878
interxylary1889
mesarch1891
hadrocentric1900
leptocentric1940
xylary1953
1878 W. R. McNab Bot.: Outl. Morphol. & Physiol. ii. 45 In the ferns and lycopods, and in some monocotyledons, where the phloem completely surrounds the xylem the bundles may be called concentric.
1960 K. Esau Anat. Seed Plants xvi. 208 A further modification of the relative arrangement of vascular tissues is represented by the concentric vascular bundles in which either the phloem surrounds the xylem (amphicribral bundles) or the xylem surrounds the phloem (amphivasal bundles).
2004 Bot. Rev. 70 129 The medullary bundles of Fascivarioxylon are concentric or collateral and often have an irregular course throughout the pith.
3. Chemistry. Of acids: concentrated (concentrated adj. 2a). rare.
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the world > matter > chemistry > physical chemistry > solutions > [adjective] > concentration
stronga1325
concentrated1689
concentrate1758
concentric1772
1772 Philos. Trans. 1771 (Royal Soc.) 61 340 Acids never are given in so concentric a state.
1885 Bull. Sci. Lab. Denison Univ. 1 129 If the grain of apatite can be isolated it is dissolved in a concentric nitric acid solution of molybdate of ammonia.
1978 Bot. Rev. 44 380 Concentric sulfuric acid has been used experimentally for many years..with considerable success on many species.
4. Military. Designating weapon fire concentrated on one point. Chiefly in concentric fire. Also in figurative contexts.
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society > armed hostility > military equipment > operation and use of weapons > action of propelling missile > discharge of firearms > [noun] > type of firing
point and blank1590
false fire1602
potting1613
point-blank1614
running fire1629
pounding1633
bulleting1635
platooning1706
sharp-shot1725
street firing1727
ricochet1740
fire curtain1744
plunging fire1747
reverse fire1758
sniping1773
enfilade1796
rapid fire1800
line-firing1802
concentric1804
sharpshooting1806
rake1810
sniping fire1821
cross-firing1837
file-firing1837
curved fire1854
night firing1856
file-fire1857
volley-firing1859
cross-fire1860
joy-firing1864
snap-shooting1872
stringing1873
pot-shooting1874
indirect fire1879
sweeping1907
rapid1913
curtain of fire1916
ripple1939
ripple-firing1940
ripple fire1961
1804 Brit. Mil. Libr. (new ed.) I. xii. 470 The first échelon would be necessarily beaten, because it is surrounded by a concentric fire.
1837 A. Alison Hist. Europe from French Revol. VI. l. 574 The severity of the concentric discharges,..was so great, that this gallant regiment,..wavered and broke.
1852 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 72 355 Subject every day to the concentric fire of the Radical press.
1858 Jewish Herald 1 June 81/2 In warfare now the plan is concentric firing, and bringing all your batteries, all your cannons, to bear upon one point.
1919 J. F. B. Livesay Canada's Hundred Days iv. v. 364 The men went into the attack in the dark, supported by a concentric barrage of great power.
2003 S. Dunstan Yom Kippur War I. 75 The effect of the concentric fire of four armoured brigades was devastating.
B. n.
1. A concentric circle or other figure. Also figurative.
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the world > space > relative position > central condition or position > [noun] > condition of having same centre > that which has
concentric1551
the world > space > shape > curvature > roundness > [noun] > circularity > a circle > a concentric circle
concentric1551
1551 R. Record Pathway to Knowl. i. sig. Aivv Concentrikes, that is to saie, circles drawen on one centre.
1603 J. Florio tr. M. de Montaigne Ess. ii. xii. 311 These Epicycles, Excentriques, and Concentriques [Fr. concentriques], which Astrologie vseth.
a1656 J. Hales Golden Remains (1673) i. 283 Such Concentricks or Epicycles of Sympathies and Antipathies.
1752 J. L. Cowley Geom. made Easy i. 9 Z and X being described from the same Center A, are Concentrics, but E and F, whose Centers are two different Points B and D, are Excentrics.
1878 Pop. Sci. Monthly Dec. 246/2 The dome is constructed of a vast number of radii crossed at regular intervals by concentrics.
1917 Automobile Trade Jrnl. 1 Aug. 225/2 The Kurtz piston ring is a three-piece double eccentric, the heavy side of one eccentric being placed against the light side of the other, forming a concentric.
2005 M. Donahue Mouse's Tank ii. 12 Invisible desert currents that propelled the hungry, searching birds into effortless concentrics.
2. Photography. = concentric lens n. at Compounds. rare.
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society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > photography > camera > parts and accessories of camera > [noun] > lens > types of
portrait lens1852
short-focus lens1862
periscope1865
rectilinear1867
pantoscope1868
wide-angle1868
long lens1876
apochromatic1887
anastigmat1890
concentric lens1890
euryscope1890
landscape lens1890
rectigraph1890
symmetrical1890
concentric1893
telelens1893
telephoto1894
monocle1897
stigmat1901
stigmatic1902
Long Tom1910
zoom lens1932
Panavision1955
teleconverter1959
macro lens1961
zoom1969
macro1971
1893 Amer. Jrnl. Photogr. Feb. 62 It is impossible to focus the 'concentrics' with larger aperture than f-20.
1942 Ilford Man. Photogr. (ed. 2) i. 23 The peculiarity of the concentric is the use of plano convex crowns and the fact that the exposed surfaces are concentric.
Compounds
concentric cable n. an electrical cable consisting of two or more concentrically arranged conductors, esp. one in which the neutral wires surround the inner conductor in a helical pattern; cf. coaxial cable at coaxial adj. 2c.
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society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > [noun] > line
wire1813
line1847
wire line1848
loop1863
landline1865
saddle wire1876
telephone line1877
concentric cable1888
Pupin cable1904
multiple twin1922
quad1922
twisted pair1923
star quad1927
music line1929
coaxial cable1934
coax1945
1888 Jrnl. Soc. Telegraph-engineers & Electricians 17 373 Another cable, carrying alternating currents under 2,000 volts pressure, was laid in Milan nearly two years ago. This was a Siemens concentric cable.
1944 Electronic Engin. 16 403 Linking with the provinces would be possible by concentric cable.
2002 R. D. Treloar Plumbing: Heating & Gas Installations (ed. 2) vi. 246 The system most commonly used today, it uses a special concentric cable, the phase being surrounded by the neutral.
concentric castle n. a castle having two or more concentric walls for defence, creating inner and outer wards.
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1844 Archaeol. Jrnl. June 101 The changes introduced with the thirteenth century assumed a determinate form under Edward I., and produced the second great type of English castle, the ‘Edwardian’ or Concentric.
1884 G. T. Clark Mediæval Mil. Archit. Eng. I. xii. 158 The first characteristic of a concentric castle is the arrangement of its lines of defence, one within the other, two or even three deep.
1956 R. C. Small Crusading Warfare 1097–1193 vii. 215 The motte and bailey castle of the eleventh century, the stone keeps of the twelfth and early thirteenth, the successive enceintes of the concentric castle of the late thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, each is seen as a type of fortification more highly developed than the predecessor from which it had evolved.
2013 Daily Tel. 8 June (Weekend Suppl.) 22 Concentric castles—walls surrounded by walls—came later, and were more effective at seeing off attacks from charging armies.
concentric cell n. chiefly Biology any of a number of cells arranged concentrically.
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1824 ‘R. Stuart’ Descr. Hist. Steam Engine Index 222/2 Concentric cells.
1884 Encycl. Brit. XVII. 67/1 (caption) The stomata appear as gaps in the epidermis. They are surrounded by a few concentric cells, of which the first are represented.
1950 Pop. Sci. July 92/2 Three concentric cells nested together make a compact storage battery for autos and other vehicles.
2003 G. L. Blomquist in L. I. Gilbert Insect Endocrinol. xii. 550 After apolysis and before the imaginal molt the immature gland contains four concentric cells.
concentric contraction (a) Physiology the type of muscular contraction that occurs when a muscle shortens against a load; an instance of this (cf. sense A. 2c); (b) Ophthalmology loss of the peripheral ring of the visual field; = tunnel vision n. at tunnel n. Compounds 2.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of eye > disordered vision > [noun] > limited visual field
hemiopia1811
scotoma1821
concentric contraction1858
hemianopia1882
hemianopsia1883
field defect1884
quadrantanopia1909
quadrantanopsia1910
macular sparing1940
tunnel vision1949
1858 C. F. Taylor in N. Amer. Jrnl. Homœopathy 7 30 (heading) Concentric contraction and excentric contraction.
1859 T. Windsor tr. A. von Graefe Three Mem. Iridectomy in Sel. Monogr. (New Sydenham Soc.) 337 The prognosis is completely changed as soon as the field of vision is contracted. Yet a moderate concentric contraction [Ger. concentrische Verengerung] is relatively the most favorable.
1946 Mich. Law Rev. 44 756 Hysterical hemianopsia is very rare; concentric contraction of the field..is the more common field defect.
2008 N. Draper & C. Hodgson Adventure Sport Physiol. iv. 120/1 When a muscle moves as part of a contraction, the load can be applied when the muscle is shortening (a concentric contraction) or when the muscle is lengthening (an eccentric contraction).
concentric hypertrophy n. [after French hypertrophie concentrique ( R. J. Bertin & J. B. Bouillaud Traité des maladies du cœur et des gros vaisseaux (1824) ii. ii. i. 284)] Medicine abnormal thickening of the walls of the heart or other hollow organ without an increase in overall size, often resulting in reduction in capacity.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > disorders of heart > [noun] > other heart disorders
regurgitation1683
pneumopericardium1821
concentric hypertrophy1828
hydropericardium1834
stenocardia1842
cardiosclerosis1848
pyopericardium1848
irritable heart1864
pyopneumopericardium1878
tobacco heart1884
akinesis1888
smoker's heart1888
pneumopericarditis1890
cardioptosis1895
soldier's heart1898
diver's palsy1900
cardiomyopathy1901
cigarette heart1908
neurocirculatory asthenia1918
Fallot1922
cor pulmonale1935
Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome1935
fibroelastosis1943
restenosis1954
akinesia1970
stress cardiomyopathy2005
1828 J. Brown Med. Ess. Fever v. 191 In this last case it constitutes the concentric hypertrophy of Bertin.
1888 Med. Rec. 4 Aug. 118/2 My first case was one of ulceration and concentric hypertrophy of the bladder coupled with urethrocele.
1920 Lancet 22 May 1103/1 The cardiac condition resembled beri-beri in the concentric hypertrophy of the right heart and degeneration of the vagus nerves.
2012 N. Frey et al. in J. A. Hill & E. N. Olson Muscle I. xxxv. 481/2 Morphologically distinct entities of hypertrophy can be distinguished, including concentric and eccentric hypertrophy.
concentric lens n. Photography (now chiefly historical) a compound lens consisting of planoconvex and planoconcave lenses of such dimensions that the convex and concave surfaces of the combined lens represent portions of two concentric spheres.Invented in 1888 by Dr Hugo Schröder of Ross & Co.
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society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > photography > camera > parts and accessories of camera > [noun] > lens > types of
portrait lens1852
short-focus lens1862
periscope1865
rectilinear1867
pantoscope1868
wide-angle1868
long lens1876
apochromatic1887
anastigmat1890
concentric lens1890
euryscope1890
landscape lens1890
rectigraph1890
symmetrical1890
concentric1893
telelens1893
telephoto1894
monocle1897
stigmat1901
stigmatic1902
Long Tom1910
zoom lens1932
Panavision1955
teleconverter1959
macro lens1961
zoom1969
macro1971
1890 Jrnl. Soc. Arts 2 May 595/1 A pair of cemented lenses could be obtained which would more nearly approach to a concentric lens.
1909 A. L. Baker Thick-lens Optics iii. 52 Concentric lens (Ross lens).
2007 M. Zahorcak in M. R. Peres Focal Encycl. Photogr. (ed. 4) 168/1 In 1889, using one of the newly developed types of glass, Ross (England) produced the Concentric lens.
concentric main n. now historical a main electricity supply cable consisting of one or more concentric cables.Used esp. in reference to the cable invented in 1890 by Sebastian de Ferranti (1864–1930), which consisted of a number of rigid concentric cables joined together.
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1890 Electr. Engineer 20 June 484/2 The Ferranti concentric mains not being ready, the company laid and run from Deptford to Charing Cross temporary cables.
1912 Times 15 May 25/3 The concentric main could be run along the outside of the houses.
1995 Isis 86 42 He measured the capacitance and the resistance of Ferranti's concentric main, and he calculated its self-inductance.
concentric structure n. Geology a structure in which approximately parallel layers of a mineral are arranged around a common centre.
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1815 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 105 2 Another cleavage is distinctly perceptible: it is parallel to the outer surface, and produces a concentric structure like that of an onion.
1830 C. Lyell Princ. Geol. I. 205 The same combination of concentric and radiated structure.
1940 F. F. Grout Kemp's Handbk. Rocks (ed. 6) viii. 155 Concretionary clay has the clay mineral itself in concentric structures.
2008 Sedimentary Geol. 203 138 (caption) Photomicrographs of oval, coccoid-like bodies with well preserved concentric structure.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2015; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.c1400