1.
[syn: agave, century plant, American aloe]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Maguey \Mag"uey\, n. [Sp. maguey, Mexican maguei and metl.]
(Bot.)
Any of several species of Agave, such as the century
plant (Agave Americana), a plant requiring many years to
come to maturity and blossoming only once before dying; and
the Agave atrovirens, a Mexican plant used especially for
making pulque, the source of the colorless Mexican liquor
mescal; and the cantala (Agave cantala), a Philippine
plant yielding a hard fibre used in making coarse twine. See
Agave.
[1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5]
2. A hard fibre used in making coarse twine, derived from the
Philippine Agave cantala (Agave cantala); also called
cantala.
[WordNet 1.5]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Century \Cen"tu*ry\, n.; pl. Centuries. [L. centuria (in
senses 1 & 3), fr. centum a hundred: cf. F. centurie. See
Cent.]
1. A hundred; as, a century of sonnets; an aggregate of a
hundred things. [Archaic.]
[1913 Webster]
And on it said a century of prayers. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
2. A period of a hundred years; as, this event took place
over two centuries ago.
[1913 Webster]
Note: Century, in the reckoning of time, although often used
in a general way of any series of hundred consecutive
years (as, a century of temperance work), usually
signifies a division of the Christian era, consisting
of a period of one hundred years ending with the
hundredth year from which it is named; as, the first
century (a. d. 1-100 inclusive); the seventh
century (a.d. 601-700); the eighteenth century
(a.d. 1701-1800). With words or phrases connecting
it with some other system of chronology it is used of
similar division of those eras; as, the first century
of Rome (A.U.C. 1-100).
[1913 Webster]
3. (Rom. Antiq.)
(a) A division of the Roman people formed according to
their property, for the purpose of voting for civil
officers.
(b) One of sixty companies into which a legion of the army
was divided. It was Commanded by a centurion.
[1913 Webster]
Century plant (Bot.), the Agave Americana, formerly
supposed to flower but once in a century; -- hence the
name. See Agave.
The Magdeburg Centuries, an ecclesiastical history of the
first thirteen centuries, arranged in thirteen volumes,
compiled in the 16th century by Protestant scholars at
Magdeburg.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
century plant
n 1: tropical American plants with basal rosettes of fibrous
sword-shaped leaves and flowers in tall spikes; some
cultivated for ornament or for fiber [syn: agave,
century plant, American aloe]