Ec*cen"tric (?), a. [F.
excentrique, formerly also spelled eccentrique, fr. LL.
eccentros out of the center, eccentric, Gr. &?;; &?; out of +
&?; center. See Ex-, and Center, and cf.
Excentral.] 1. Deviating or departing
from the center, or from the line of a circle; as, an
eccentric or elliptical orbit; pertaining to deviation from
the center or from true circular motion.
2. Not having the same center; -- said of
circles, ellipses, spheres, etc., which, though coinciding, either in
whole or in part, as to area or volume, have not the same center; --
opposed to concentric.
3. (Mach.) Pertaining to an eccentric;
as, the eccentric rod in a steam engine.
4. Not coincident as to motive or
end.
His own ends, which must needs be often
eccentric to those of his master.
Bacon.
5. Deviating from stated methods, usual
practice, or established forms or laws; deviating from an appointed
sphere or way; departing from the usual course; irregular; anomalous;
odd; as, eccentric conduct. "This brave and
eccentric young man." Macaulay.
He shines eccentric, like a comet's
blaze.
Savage.
Eccentric anomaly. (Astron.) See
Anomaly. -- Eccentric chuck
(Mach.), a lathe chuck so constructed that the work held
by it may be altered as to its center of motion, so as to produce
combinations of eccentric combinations of eccentric circles. --
Eccentric gear. (Mach.) (a)
The whole apparatus, strap, and other parts, by which the motion
of an eccentric is transmitted, as in the steam engine.
(b) A cogwheel set to turn about an eccentric
axis used to give variable rotation. --
Eccentric hook or gab, a
hook-shaped journal box on the end of an eccentric rod, opposite the
strap. -- Eccentric rod, the rod that
connects as eccentric strap with any part to be acted upon by the
eccentric. -- Eccentric sheave, or
Eccentric pulley, an eccentric. --
Eccentric strap, the ring, operating as a
journal box, that encircles and receives motion from an eccentric; --
called also eccentric hoop.
Syn. -- Irregular; anomalous; singular; odd; peculiar;
erratic; idiosyncratic; strange; whimsical.
Ec*cen"tric (?), n. 1.
A circle not having the same center as another contained in some
measure within the first.
2. One who, or that which, deviates from
regularity; an anomalous or irregular person or thing.
3. (Astron.) (a) In
the Ptolemaic system, the supposed circular orbit of a planet about
the earth, but with the earth not in its center.
(b) A circle described about the center of an
elliptical orbit, with half the major axis for radius.
Hutton.
4. (Mach.) A disk or wheel so arranged
upon a shaft that the center of the wheel and that of the shaft do
not coincide. It is used for operating valves in steam engines, and
for other purposes. The motion derived is precisely that of a crank
having the same throw.
Back eccentric, the eccentric that reverses
or backs the valve gear and the engine. -- Fore
eccentric, the eccentric that imparts a forward motion
to the valve gear and the engine.
