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Center vs Bottom - What's the difference?

center | bottom |

In transitive terms the difference between center and bottom

is that center is to cause (some attribute, such as a mood or voltage) to be adjusted to a value which is midway between the extremes while bottom is to furnish with a bottom.

In intransitive terms the difference between center and bottom

is that center is to concentrate on (something), to pay close attention to (something) while bottom is to reach or impinge against the bottom, so as to impede free action, as when the point of a cog strikes the bottom of a space between two other cogs, or a piston the end of a cylinder.

center

English

Alternative forms

* centre

Noun

(en noun)
  • The point in the interior of a circle or sphere that is equidistant from all points on the circumference.
  • * 1908 , , translating Euclid, Elements , III.9:
  • If a point be taken within a circle, and more than two equal straight lines fall from the point on the circle, the point taken is the centre of the circle.
  • * 2005 , David Adam, The Guardian , 4 Jun 2005:
  • Japanese scientists are to explore the centre of the Earth. Using a giant drill ship launched next month, the researchers aim to be the first to punch a hole through the rocky crust that covers our planet and to reach the mantle below.
  • The middle portion of something; the part well away from the edges.
  • (geometry) The point on a line that is midway between the ends.
  • (geometry) The point in the interior of any figure of any number of dimensions that has as its coordinates the arithmetic mean of the coordinates of all points on the perimeter of the figure (or of all points in the interior for a center of volume).
  • A place where some function or activity occurs.
  • shopping center
    convention center
  • A topic that is particularly important in a given context.
  • the center of the controversy
    the center of attention
  • (basketball) The player, generally the tallest, who plays closest to the basket.
  • (ice hockey) The forward that generally plays between the left wing and right wing and usually takes the faceoffs.
  • (American football) The person who holds the ball at the beginning of each play.
  • (Canadian football) The person who holds the ball at the beginning of each play.
  • (netball) A player who can go all over the court, except the shooting circles.
  • (soccer) A pass played into the centre of the pitch.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2010 , date=December 28 , author=Owen Phillips , title=Sunderland 0 - 2 Blackpool , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=Bent twice sent efforts wide of the far post after cutting in from the left, Wellbeck missed his kick from an inviting centre and failed to get on the end of a looping pass when six yards out.}}
  • (rugby) One of the backs operating in a central area of the pitch, either the inside centre or outside centre.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=February 4 , author=Gareth Roberts , title=Wales 19-26 England , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=Gatland's side got back to within striking distance when fly-half Jones's clever pass sent centre Jonathan Davies arcing round Shontayne Hape.}}
  • (architecture) A temporary structure upon which the materials of a vault or arch are supported in position until the work becomes self-supporting.
  • (engineering) One of the two conical steel pins in a lathe, etc., upon which the work is held, and about which it revolves.
  • (engineering) A conical recess or indentation in the end of a shaft or other work, to receive the point of a center, on which the work can turn, as in a lathe.
  • Synonyms

    * (point on a line midway between the ends) midpoint * (point in the interior of figure with mean coordinates) centroid, center of gravity, center of mass

    Antonyms

    * periphery

    Derived terms

    * center of attention * center of curvature * center of gravity * center of inertia * center of lift * center of mass * center stage * centerpiece * community center * job center * music center * pleasure center * shopping center

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Of, at, or related to a center.
  • Synonyms

    * central

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To cause (an object) to occupy the center of an area.
  • * Prior
  • Thy joys are centred all in me alone.
  • To cause (some attribute, such as a mood or voltage) to be adjusted to a value which is midway between the extremes.
  • To concentrate on (something), to pay close attention to (something).
  • (engineering) To form a recess or indentation for the reception of a center.
  • Usage notes

    The spelling centre is standard in UK English. In Canada it is typical in proper names, e.g. Toronto Centre for the Arts'', but "center" is also commonly used otherwise, e.g. ''shopping center'', ''center of town . Both spellings can be encountered even in the same text, e.g. in NHL hockey where there are many Canadian and US teams, reference might be made to the "center" forward position and a "centre" where a game is played. The indirect object of the intransitive verb is given the prepositions (on), (in), (at) or (around). (term) is primary used only in mathematical contexts. Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary observes that (term) is objected to by some people on the grounds that it is illogical, but states that it is an idiom, and thus that such objections are irrelevant. It offers (term) as an alternative to (term) for those who would avoid the idiom.

    Anagrams

    * * * ----

    bottom

    English

    Noun

  • The lowest part from the uppermost part, in either of these senses:
  • # (rfc-sense) The part furthest in the direction toward which an unsupported object would fall.
  • #* Macaulay
  • barrels with the bottom knocked out
  • #* Washington Irving
  • No two chairs were alike; such high backs and low backs and leather bottoms and worsted bottoms.
  • # (rfc-sense) The part seen, or intended to be seen, nearest the edge of the visual field normally occupied by the lowest visible objects, as "footers appear at the bottoms of pages".
  • (uncountable, British, slang) Character, reliability, staying power, dignity, integrity or sound judgment.
  • lack bottom
  • (British, US) a valley, often used in place names.
  • Where shall we go for a walk? How about Ashcombe Bottom ?
  • * Stoddard
  • the bottoms and the high grounds
  • (euphemistic) The buttocks or anus.
  • (nautical) a cargo vessel, a ship.
  • * 1881 , :
  • We sail in leaky bottoms and on great and perilous waters; [...]
  • (nautical) certain parts of a vessel, particularly the cargo hold or the portion of the ship that is always underwater.
  • * Shakespeare
  • My ventures are not in one bottom trusted.
  • * Bancroft
  • Not to sell the teas, but to return them to London in the same bottoms in which they were shipped.
  • (baseball) The second half of an inning, the home team's turn to bat.
  • (BDSM) A submissive in sadomasochistic sexual activity.
  • (LGBT, slang) A man penetrated or with a preference for being penetrated during homosexual intercourse.
  • (physics) A bottom quark.
  • (often, figuratively) The lowest part of a container.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011
  • , date=December 21 , author=Helen Pidd , title=Europeans migrate south as continent drifts deeper into crisis , work=the Guardian citation , page= , passage=In Ireland, where 14.5% of the population are jobless, emigration has climbed steadily since 2008, when Lehman Brothers collapsed and the bottom fell out of the Irish housing market. In the 12 months to April this year, 40,200 Irish passport-holders left, up from 27,700 the previous year, according to the central statistics office. Irish nationals were by far the largest constituent group among emigrants, at almost 53%.}}
  • A ball or skein of thread; a cocoon.
  • * Mortimer
  • Silkworms finish their bottoms in fifteen days.
  • The bed of a body of water, as of a river, lake, or sea.
  • An abyss.
  • (Dryden)
  • (obsolete) Power of endurance.
  • a horse of a good bottom
  • (obsolete) Dregs or grounds; lees; sediment.
  • (Johnson)

    Synonyms

    * (lowest part) base * (buttocks) arse (British, Australian, NZ''), ass, fanny (''North American ), backside, bot, bott, botty, bum, buttocks * sit upon, derriere * (BDSM) catcher * (LGBT) catcher, passive, pathic, uke (Japanese fiction) * See also * See also

    Antonyms

    * (lowest part) top * (BDSM) top * (LGBT) active, pitcher, top, versatile

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To fall to the lowest point.
  • * John J. Murphy, Intermarket Analysis: Profiting from Global Market Relationships (2004) p. 119:
  • The Dow Jones Industrial Average bottomed''' on September 24, 2001. The CRB Index '''bottomed on October 24.
  • To establish firmly; to found or justify on'' or ''upon'' something; to set on a firm footing; to set or rest ''on'' or ''upon something which provides support or authority.
  • * Atterbury
  • Action is supposed to be bottomed upon principle.
  • * South
  • those false and deceiving grounds upon which many bottom their eternal state
  • * United States. Congress. House. Committee on the Judiciary. Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law, Executive Orders and Presidential Directives , (2001) p.59.
  • Moreover, the Supreme Court has held that the President must obey outstanding executive orders, even when bottomed on the Constitution, until they are revoked.
  • To rest, as upon an ultimate support; to be based or grounded.
  • * John Locke
  • Find on what foundation any proposition bottoms .
  • To reach or impinge against the bottom, so as to impede free action, as when the point of a cog strikes the bottom of a space between two other cogs, or a piston the end of a cylinder.
  • (obsolete) To wind round something, as in making a ball of thread.
  • * Shakespeare
  • As you unwind her love from him, / Lest it should ravel and be good to none, / You must provide to bottom it on me.
  • To furnish with a bottom.
  • to bottom a chair
  • To be the submissive in a BDSM relationship or roleplay.
  • To be anally penetrated in gay sex.
  • Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • The lowest or last place or position.
  • ''Those files should go on the bottom shelf.