Definitions for the word "eccentric" from multiple English dictionaries.
1. a.
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.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
2. a.
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.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
3. a.
Pertaining to an eccentric; as, the eccentric rod in a steam engine.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
4. a.
Not coincident as to motive or end.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
5. a.
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.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
6. n.
A circle not having the same center as another contained in some measure within the first.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
7. n.
One who, or that which, deviates from regularity; an anomalous or irregular person or thing.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
8. n.
In the Ptolemaic system, the supposed circular orbit of a planet about the earth, but with the earth not in its center.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
9. n.
A circle described about the center of an elliptical orbit, with half the major axis for radius.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
10. n.
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.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
11. adj.
1 odd or capricious in behaviour or appearance. 2 (also excentric) a not placed, not having its axis placed, centrally. B (often foll. By to) (of a circle) not concentric (to another). C (of an orbit) not circular. n. 1 eccentric person. 2 disc at the end of a shaft for changing rotatory into backward-and-forward motion. eccentrically adv. Eccentricity n. [greek: related to *centre]
Source: Oxford English Dictionary, 1884
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