dead-center

See also: dead center and deadcenter

English

Alternative forms

• dead center, deadcenter

Adjective

dead-center (not comparable)

1. In the exact center
   • 1961, NASA Technical Report, page 7:

     These curves represent approximate insertion conditions for lunar impact trajectories designed to intersect the center of the moon (dead-center hit).

Adverb

dead-center (not comparable)

1. In the exact center.
   • 2014, Martin DuPont, Beyond Fear: If You Must Think It; You Will Die, page 219:

     With a Dragunov, I can hit any target dead-center at a distanceof two hundred meters.

   • 2015, Aaron Gustafson, Adaptive Web Design:

     Think of it this way: There's no musical listening experience quite like sitting dead-center in an acoustically perfect concert hall.

   • 2016, Dennis Hinton, A Skate Odyssey: The Rise and Fall of an American Family:

     The snack bar itself had beautiful light-grained Formica counters, and there was a giant popcorn machine placed dead-center as a focal point, like a “Holy Grail” of snacks for all to see.

Noun

dead-center (plural dead-centers)

1. The exact center
2. (engineering) Alternative form of dead center.

Verb

dead-center (third-person singular simple present dead-centers, present participle dead-centering, simple past and past participle dead-centered)

1. To hit or place in the exact center.
   • 1953, Edward Elmer Smith, Second Stage Lensmen, page 161:

     All four of you are assuming that I've dead-centered the target . I thought probably I was right, but since I couldn't find any Eich traces, I expected a lot of argument.

   • 2012, M. L. Buchman, I Own the Dawn:

     At over a hundred knots, Archie slid the Hawk forward and dead-centered the basket with the probe on his first try.

   • 2016, Thomas W. Kavanagh, The Life of Ten Bears: Comanche Historical Narratives:

     He had looked backward longer than he realized and neatly dead-centered the lone but firm sapling.

   • 2017, E.E. 'Doc' Smith, Children of the Lens:

     Sometimes I'd like to half-brain the old buzzard, but everything he has said so far has dead-centered the beam.

Anagrams

• dead centre