a. and sb. Also 6 centenaire, 7 centinary. [ad. L. centēnāri-us ‘consisting of’ or ‘containing a hundred,’ hence ‘of a hundred years old’ (a sense not actually recorded in ancient Lat., though the corresp. sense occurs with the other words of the same class, from vīcēnārius of twenty years, to nōnāgēnārius of ninety years old); f. centēnī a hundred each, f. centum hundred. In F. centenaire.
The regularly analogous pronunciation is (se·ntĭnări); cf. millenary, culinary, promontory; but some say (sentī·nări); cf. catenary; others, with less reason, (sente·nări), as if the word were centennary, and connected with centennium.]
A. adj.
1. Of or pertaining to the space of a hundred years.
1647. Fuller, Good Th. in Worse T. (1841), 92. Centenary years returned but seldom.
1688. Answ. Talon’s Plea, 30. The Centinary possession, as they call it, or the enjoyment for many Ages can make no prescription against Sovereignty.
c. 1811. Fuseli, Lect. Art, iv. (1848), 452. During the course of nearly a centenary practice.
1830. Bp. Monk, Life Bentley (1833), I. 199. The University of Frankfort … having resolved to celebrate the centenary anniversary of its foundation.
1857. H. Miller, Test. Rocks, x. 410. Dividing the total thickness of the bed by the centenary elevation.
2. gen. Of or belonging to a hundred.
1768. E. Buys, Dict. Terms of Art, Centenary, belonging to an Hundred.
1824. Heber, Jrnl., ix. (ed. 2), I. 267. The centenary and millesimal way in which the Hindoos express themselves.
3. Relating to the division of a county called a ‘hundred.’
1837. Sir F. Palgrave, Merch. & Friar, ii. (1844), 53. Marco ascertained that they were the ‘sworn centenary deputies,’ a phrase by which I suppose he means the Jurors who answered for and represented the several Hundreds.
1879. Green, Read. Eng. Hist., xxiii. 115.
B. sb.
† 1. A weight of a hundred pounds. Obs. [= late L. centēnārium.]
[c. 636. Isidore Orig., xvi. xxv. 23. Centenarium numeri nomen est, eo quod centum librarum ponderis sit.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XIX. cxxx. (1495), 939. Centenarium is the name of a nombre for it conteyneth an hundryd pounde.]
1598. Barret, Theor. Warres, V. iii. 134. 300 Centenaires of lead.
1656. Dugard, Gate Lat. Unl., § 536. A hundred pound make a Centenary, or hundred-pound waight.
1712. Perquisite-Monger, 7. The Loan of only ten Gold Centenaries.
1788. Gibbon, Decl. & F. (1846), V. liii. 256. Their pay … computed at thirty-four centenaries of gold.
2. A space, duration or age of one hundred years; a centennium or century.
1607. R. C., trans. H. Estienne’s World Wonders, 229. We haue seene sundry strange things in this last centenary of the world.
1627. Hakewill, Apol., iv. 49. If we should allow but one inch of decrease in the growth of men for every Centenary.
1865. De Morgan, Paradoxes (1872), 11. [The editorial system] has grown up in the last centenary—a word I may use to signify the hundred years now ending, and to avoid the ambiguity of century.
1884. Birmingh. Daily Post, 2 Dec., 7/4. Mr. John Hogben … on Sunday completed his centenary.
3. A centennial anniversary; the celebration of the accomplishment of a centennium.
1788. Ann. Reg., 220. Among the clubs of London who celebrated the centenary of the glorious revolution.
1839. T. Jackson (title), The Centenary of Wesleyan Methodism.
1859. Times, Jan., 26, 9/4. The ‘Burns Centenary’ was celebrated last night in very simple and unpretending fashion.
1885. Pall Mall Gaz., 20 June, 3/2. The [Handel] festival is one full year before its time, owing to the present rage for centenaries. This is the second centenary of Handel’s birth.
4. A centenarian. rare. [= L. *centēnārius, F. centenaire.]
1834–43. Southey, Doctor, cxxxii. Centenaries, he thought, must have been ravens and tortoises.
5. (See quot.)
1700. Sir H. Chauncy, Hist. Antiq. Herts. (1826), I. 52. Every Hundred was govern’d by a particular officer, called a Centenary or a Hundredary.
Hence Centenary v.
1859. Bristol Mirror, 19 Feb., 6/3. Sir Isaac Newton was born to be Centenaried, and the Town-hall must be engaged for 1942.
1888. Scottish Leader, 9 April, 4. Those who had already monuments enough might be centenaried, while one whose centenary was not available might have a new monument.
