high-centrehigh-centerv.
/hʌɪˈsɛntə/, U.S. /ˌhaɪˈsɛn(t)ər/ Originally and chiefly U.S.
1. intransitive. Of a driver: to cause the chassis of a vehicle to become stuck on a high centre (high centre n.) or (later) uneven ground, or any obstacle, with the wheels raised off the ground or unable to gain traction. Also with the vehicle as subject. Frequently with on. Now also figurative and in figurative context.
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1941 Pinedale (Wyoming) Roundup 27 Mar. 1/2 Several drivers have high-centered on the road.
1963 G. Snyder & N. I. S. Yost No Time on my Hands (1986) 478 They didn't believe extra horsepower helped much in sand,..and anyway a Hup[mobile] was too low. It was apt to high-center on a cow chip.
1989 I. Frazier Great Plains iii. 41 The trick was finding the exact moment to steer from one set of ruts into a new set to the right or left. Just as we were about to high-center, Jim Yellow Earring would yell.
1993 Federal News Service (Nexis) 19 Jan. We seem to be high centered on the issue. It's of great concern. Because of the strength of the special interest groups, we're simply gridlocked.
2011 R. Ludlum & K. Mills Ares Decision lxiv. 282 The vehicle lurched right and high-centered on a drift.
2. transitive. To cause (a vehicle) to become stuck on a high centre, uneven ground, or any obstacle, with the wheels raised off the ground or unable to gain traction.
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1946 Salt Lake Tribune 20 May 9/7 He ‘high centered’ his car on the railroad tracks at 59th South.
1988 D. Carpenter God's Bedfellows 11 Trying to pull out, he high-centred the truck on a stump. It took a team of horses to pull it off.
2004 Observer 25 Apr. (Mag.) 28/2 You could hear Dean and a friend bumping along in a jeep.., before the vehicle is high-centred by a pothole and gets stuck.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, September 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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v.1941