Century
Century , noun
[Latin centuria (in senses 1 & 3), from centum a hundred: compare French centurie. See Cent.]
1.
A hundred; as, a century of sonnets; an aggregate of a hundred things. [Archaic]
And on it said a century of prayers.
2.
A period of a hundred years; as, this event took place over two centuries ago.
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).
3.
(a) (Rom. Antiquities) A division of the Roman people formed according to their property, for the purpose of voting for civil officers.
(b)
(Rom. Antiquities) One of sixty companies into which a legion of the army was divided. It was Commanded by a centurion.
Collocations (2)
Century plant (Botany) , 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.