\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.]
         And on it said a century of prayers.  --Shak.
2. A period of a hundred years; as, this event took place
   over two centuries ago.
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).
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.
{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.