GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

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1.       
   Century , n.; pl. Centuries . [L. centuria (in senses 1 & 3), fr. centum a hundred: cf. F. centurie. See Cent.]
   A hundred; as, a century of sonnets; an aggregate of a hundred things. [Archaic.]
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   And on it said a century of prayers.
   Shak.
   
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   A period of a hundred years; as, this event took place over two centuries ago.
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   ☞ Century, in the reckoning of time, although often used in a general way of any series of hundred consecutive years (as, a century of temperance work), usually signifies a division of the Christian era, consisting of a period of one hundred years ending with the hundredth year from which it is named; as, the first century (a. d. 1-100 inclusive); the seventh century (a.d. 601-700); the eighteenth century (a.d. 1701-1800). With words or phrases connecting it with some other system of chronology it is used of similar division of those eras; as, the first century of Rome (A.U.C. 1-100).
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   (Rom. Antiq.) (a) A division of the Roman people formed according to their property, for the purpose of voting for civil officers. (b) One of sixty companies into which a legion of the army was divided. It was Commanded by a centurion.
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   Century plant (Bot.), the Agave Americana, formerly supposed to flower but once in a century; -- hence the name. See Agave. -- The Magdeburg Centuries, an ecclesiastical history of the first thirteen centuries, arranged in thirteen volumes, compiled in the 16th century by Protestant scholars at Magdeburg.
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