concentre

See also: concentré

English

WOTD – 2 September 2015

Alternative forms

• concenter (now US)

Etymology

From con- +‎ centre.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /kɑnˈsɛntɚ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kɒnˈsɛntə/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• Hyphenation: con‧cen‧tre
• Rhymes: -ɛntə(ɹ)

Verb

concentre (third-person singular simple present concentres, present participle concentring, simple past and past participle concentred)

1. (British spelling, dated, intransitive) To come together at a common centre.
   • 1613, Henry Peacham, “To the Buried Prince” in The Period of Mourning, London: John Helme:^[1]

     As from each angle of the Vault

     Wherein thou lyest, a line is brought

     Vnto the Kingly founders heart;

     So vnto thee, from euery part,

     See how our loues doe runne by line,

     And dead, concenter in thy Shrine.

   • 17th–18th century (reprinted 1850), William Beveridge, “The Sacerdotal Benediction in the Name of the Trinity”, reprinted in Twenty-six Sermons on Various Subjects Selected from the Works of the Right Rev. William Beveridge, D.D. Lord Bishop of St. Asaph^[2], London: Printed for the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, OCLC 697897263, page 80:

     Hence, […] whatsoever perfections or properties (except such as are purely personal) are attributed to any of these divine Persons, are the same in all, and may equally be attributed to every one; they being all and every one the same God, in whom all perfections concentre, or, rather, who is all perfection itself.

   • 1759, [Laurence Sterne], chapter XIX, in The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, 2nd (1st London) edition, volume II, London: […] R[obert] and J[ames] Dodsley […], published 1760, →OCLC, page 170:

     [T]he medulla oblongata, wherein it was generally agreed by Dutch anatomists, that all the minute nerves from all the organs of the seven senses concentered, like streets and winding alleys, into a square.

   • 1804, William Clark, The Journals of Lewis and Clark:

     Capt. Lewis walked on Shore above this Creek and discovered a high moun from the top of which he had an extensive view, 3 paths Concentering at the moun

2. (British spelling, dated, intransitive) To coincide.
   • 1686, Charles Cotton (translator), Essays of Michael, Seigneur de Montaigne, London: T. Basset et al., Book 3, Chapter 5, page 156:^[3]

     Are we not sufficiently Brutes, to call that work brutish which begets us? […] All Opinions concenter in this […]

3. (British spelling, dated, transitive) To bring together at a common centre.
   • 1648, Robert Herrick, Epigram “To the most accomplisht Gentleman, Master Edward Norgate, Clark of the Signet to His Majesty” in Hesperides, London: John Williams and Francis Eglesfield, page 138:^[4]

     For one so rarely tun’d to fit all parts;

     For one to whom espous’d are all the Arts;

     Long have I sought for: but co’d never see

     Them all concenter’d in one man, but Thee.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 104-107:

     [T]hir bright officious Lamps, / Light above Light, for thee alone, as seems, / In thee concentring all thir precious beams / Of sacred influence: […]

   • 1750 October 27, Samuel Johnson, “No. [61]. Tuesday, October 16. 1750 [Julian calendar].”, in The Rambler, volume III, Edinburgh: [[…] Sands, Murray, and Cochran]; sold by W. Gordon, C. Wright, J. Yair, […], published 1750, →OCLC:

     Whatever has distinguished the hero; whatever has elevated the wit; whatever has indeared the lover, are all concentered in Mr Frolick, whose life has, for seven years, been a regular interchange of intrigues, dangers, and waggeries […]

   • 1795, Helen Maria Williams, Letters Containing a Sketch of the Politics of France‎^[5], London: G. G. and J. Robinson, Letter 8, page 230:

     […] for he never on any occasion displayed his sensibility to mortifications, which was in proportion to his excessive vanity, but concentred within his vindictive soul his disgrace, his resentment, and his projects of vengeance.

4. (British spelling, dated, transitive) To focus.
   • 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, chapter XXIII, in The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC:

     For an instant, the gaze of the horror-stricken multitude was concentred on the ghastly miracle […]

   • 1885, George Meredith, Diana of the Crossways, London: Chapman & Hall, Volume 1, Chapter 14, ppage 194-195:^[6]

     At Princess Paryli’s Ball two young men of singular elegance were observed by Diana, little though she concentered her attention on any figures of the groups.

   • 1908, Edward Carpenter, chapter 4, in The Intermediate Sex‎^[7], London: Swan Sonnenschein, page 83:

     Education has been concentred on intellectual (and physical) development; but the affections have been left to take care of themselves.

5. (transitive, British spelling, dated) To condense, to concentrate.
   • 1805, Walter Scott, “(please specify the page)”, in The Lay of the Last Minstrel: A Poem, London: […] [James Ballantyne] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, […], and A[rchibald] Constable and Co., […], →OCLC:

     Breathes there the man, with soul so dead, / Who never to himself hath said, / This is my own, my native land! […] The wretch, concentred all in self, / Living, shall forfeit fair renown, / And, doubly dying, shall go down / To the vile dust, from whence he sprung, / Unwept, unhonour'd, and unsung.

   • 1829, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], “In which the Hero Shews Decision on More Points than One—More of Isora’s Character is Developed”, in Devereux. A Tale. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, book III, page 83:

     Ah, I wish you were of my humble temper: the more we limit and concentre happiness, the more certain, I think, we are of securing it—they who widen the circle, encroach upon the boundaries of danger; […]

   • 1917, Frank Dilnot, chapter 11, in Lloyd George: The Man and His Story‎^[8], New York: Harper, page 163:

     As new discoveries were made incidental difficulties connected with the filling of shells occupied the concentered study of the manufacturers.

Synonyms

• (come together at a common centre): converge

Derived terms

• concentric

Anagrams

• concenter, connecter, reconnect

French

Verb

concentre

1. inflection of concentrer:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Anagrams

• connecter

Portuguese

Verb

concentre

1. inflection of concentrar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Spanish

Verb

concentre

1. inflection of concentrar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative