[F. centimètre: see CENTI- and METRE.] In the Metric system, a measure of length equal to 1/100 of a metre, or ·3937 (nearly 2/5) of an inch.
1801. Dupré, Neolog. Fr. Dict., 43. Centimètre … is the hundredth part of the metre.
1809. Naval Chron., XXII. 363. Its … diameter did not exceed a centimetre.
1865. Reader, 11 Feb., 162/3. It amounts to about eighty cubic centimetres.
