a. and sb. [f. L. centēsimus hundredth, centēsima (pars) hundredth (part), f. centum hundred + -AL. Cf. decimal.]
A. adj. † 1. Hundred-fold. Obs.
a. 1682. Sir T. Browne, Tracts (1684), 40. This centessimal increase [Matt. xiii. 23]…. This centessimal fructification.
2. Relating to division into hundredths. Centesimal thermometer = CENTIGRADE thermometer.
1809. Troughton, in Phil. Trans., XCIX. 135. To divide a circle according to the centesimal division of the quadrant.
1812–6. Playfair, Nat. Phil. (1819), I. 247. When the centesimal thermometer is used.
1852. Th. Ross, trans. Humboldt’s Trav., I. i. 23. At great depths the thermometer marks 7 or 8 centesimal degrees.
3. Relating to fractions of a hundred; calculated according to percentage.
1829. C. Welch, West. Polity, 234. The centesimal ratio of increase.
B. sb. A hundredth part; the second figure after the decimal point. ? Obs.
1698. Derham, in Phil. Trans., XX. 47. The Height of the Mercury in the Barometer, in Inches and Centesimals.
1727. Arbuthnot, Tables Anc. Coins, etc. 97 (J.). The neglect of a few centesimals in the side of the Cube would bring it to an equality with the Cube of a Foot.
