Ec-çĕn'tric or Ec-çĕn'tric-al1, a.
a. [N. Lat. eccentricus, Gr. ἔκ-κεντρος, out of the center, eccentric, from ἐκ, out of, and κέντρον, Lat. centrum, center; Fr. excentrique.]
Sense 1. Deviating or departing from the center, or from the line of a circle; as, an eccentric or elliptical orbit.
Sense 2. Pertaining to eccentricity or to an eccentric; as, the eccentric anomaly of a planet; the eccentric rod in a steam-engine.
Sense 3. Not having the same center;—said of circles and spheres which, though coinciding, either in whole or in part, as to area or volume, have not the same center;—opposed to concentric.
Sense 4. Not coincident as to motive or end.
His own ends, which must needs be often eccentric to those of his master. Bacon.
Sense 5. Deviating from stated methods, usual practice, or established forms or laws; deviating from an appointed sphere or way; departing from the usual course; irregular; anomalous; odd; as, eccentric conduct.
He shines eccentric, like a comet’s blaze. Savage.
Eccentric chuck (Mach.), a lathe-chuck so constructed that the work held by it may be altered as to its center of motion, so as to produce combinations of eccentric circles. — Eccentric gear, the whole apparatus of rod, strap, and other parts, by which the motion of an eccentric is transmitted, as in the steam-engine. — Eccentric hook or gab, a hook-shaped journal-box on the end of an eccentric rod, opposite the strap. See V-HOOK. — Eccentric rod, the rod that connects an eccentric strap with any part to be actuated by the eccentric. — Eccentric strap, the ring, operating as a journal-box, that encircles and receives motion from an eccentric.
Synonyms—Irregular; anomalous; singular; odd; particular; strange; whimsical.
