dead center

• dead-center, deadcenter
• (UK) dead centre, dead-centre

Originally a variant of earlier dead-point.

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dead center (plural dead centers) (American spelling)

1. Synonym of dead point: the position at which a crank is in a direct line with a connecting rod.
2. A nonrevolving center in a lathe.
3. (idiomatic) The exact center.
   • 1894, Buffalo Bill, Wild Bill, the Dead-Center Shot:

• (exact center): bullseye

• bottom dead center
• top dead center

dead center (not comparable)

1. Alternative form of dead-center
   • 2000, L. R. Manley, Thrillseekers.Com: A Novel:

     Dead center on its back was the design of a large, blue eye that somehow looked familiar.

   • 2015, Sybil Bartel, Impossible Promise:

     It was this side of new, set back from the street in a lot dead center at the end of a cul-de-sac.

dead center (not comparable)

1. Alternative form of dead-center
   • 2013, Ellie James, Broken Illusions:

     Now, the Ouija board sat dead center.

   • 2013, Jaye Wells, Rusted Veins: A Sabina Kane Novella:

     Damascus White sat dead center in the back of the booth.

   • 2013, Jenny Han, Siobhan Vivian, Fire with Fire:

     I give it a flick, so the daisy charm swings back and forth like a pendulum, dead center in the middle of his windshield.

• “dead-ˌcentre | dead-ˌcenter, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1894.

• dead centre