in a general sense, anything divided into, or consisting of, a hundred parts.

The marquis of Worcester published a Century of inventions, (for a specimen of which, see Acoustics, and Dr Hooke has given a decimate of inventions, as part of a Century, of which he affirmed himself master. It is remarkable, that both in the century of the former, and the decimate of the latter, we find the principle on which Savary's fire or steam engine is founded. See Steam-Engine.

antiquity. The Roman people, when they were assembled for the electing of magistrates, enacting of laws, or deliberating upon any public affair, were always divided into centuries, and voted by centuries, in order that their votes might be the more easily collected, whence these assemblies were called Century comitia centuriata. The Roman cohorts were also divided into centuries. See Centurion and Cohort.

Chronology, the space of 100 years. This method of computing by centuries is generally observed in church history, commencing from the time of our Saviour's incarnation: in which sense we say the first century, the second century, &c.

Centuries of Magdeburg, a famous ecclesiastical history, ranged into 13 centuries, carried down to the year 1298, compiled by several hundred protestants of Magdeburg, the chief of whom was Flacius Illyricus.

CENTUSSIS in Roman antiquity, a coin containing 100 asses.