Centrifugal

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Centrifugal \Cen*trif"u*gal\, a. [L. centrum center + fugere to
     flee.]
     1. Tending, or causing, to recede from the center.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Bot.)


        (a) Expanding first at the summit, and later at the base,
            as a flower cluster.
        (b) Having the radicle turned toward the sides of the
            fruit, as some embryos.
            [1913 Webster]
  
     {Centrifugal force} (Mech.), a force whose direction is from
        a center.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: When a body moves in a circle with uniform velocity, a
           force must act on the body to keep it in the circle
           without change of velocity. The direction of this force
           is towards the center of the circle. If this force is
           applied by means of a string to the body, the string
           will be in a state of tension. To a person holding the
           other end of the string, this tension will appear to be
           directed toward the body as if the body had a tendency
           to move away from the center of the circle which it is
           describing. Hence this latter force is often called
           centrifugal force. The force which really acts on the
           body being directed towards the center of the circle is
           called centripetal force, and in some popular treatises
           the centripetal and centrifugal forces are described as
           opposing and balancing each other. But they are merely
           the different aspects of the same stress. --Clerk
           Maxwell.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     {Centrifugal impression} (Physiol.), an impression (motor)
        sent from a nerve center outwards to a muscle or muscles
        by which motion is produced.
  
     {Centrifugal machine}, A machine for expelling water or other
        fluids from moist substances, or for separating liquids of
        different densities by centrifugal action; a whirling
        table.
  
     {Centrifugal pump}, a machine in which water or other fluid
        is lifted and discharged through a pipe by the energy
        imparted by a wheel or blades revolving in a fixed case.
        Some of the largest and most powerful pumps are of this
        kind.
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Centrifugal \Cen*trif"u*gal\, n.
     A centrifugal machine.
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  centrifugal
       adj 1: tending to move away from a center; "centrifugal force"
              [ant: {centripetal}]
       2: tending away from centralization, as of authority; "the
          division of Europe into warring blocs produces
          ever-increasing centrifugal stress"
       3: conveying information to the muscles from the CNS; "motor
          nerves" [syn: {motor(a)}]