dead center

[ ded sen-ter ]

adverb

1. in or at the exact midpoint:

   The town is located dead center between Dallas and Houston.

   She took a single shot and hit the cardboard figure dead center.

noun

1. the exact center or midpoint:

   I live in the dead center of the capitol, and parking is a nightmare.

   I hate when people leave their shopping cart in the dead center of the aisle.

2. Machinery.
   1. Also called dead point. (in a reciprocating engine) either of two positions at which the crank cannot be turned by the connecting rod, occurring at each end of a stroke when the crank and connecting rod are in the same line.
   2. a tapered rod, mounted in the tailstock spindle of a lathe, upon which the work to be turned is placed. Compare live center ( def ).

Other Words From

• dead-cen·ter adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of dead center¹

First recorded in 1870–75

Example Sentences

In between, Mountcastle launched a game-tying home run to dead center field on a curveball that caught too much plate.

From Washington Post

These two lines were visible in the puzzle as the circled coordinates, assuming the dead center of the grid was the origin of the coordinate plane.

From FiveThirtyEight

And darned if each meteor didn't strike dead center of each plant network.

From Project Gutenberg

There could be but little time left us before that bombing struck dead center and brought the whole palace down.

From Project Gutenberg

Come on, though, Morey—give me a hand—I got you off dead center.

From Project Gutenberg

I threw her hand off with a snarl, kept my foot rammed down hard and hit the man dead center.

From Project Gutenberg

In the middle there would be a dead center, and if the block stopped here, the valve would not move at all.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• accurate
• precise