from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Centner \Cent"ner\, n. [Cf. G. centner a hundred-weight, fr. L.
centenarius of a hundred, fr. centum a hundred.]
1. (Metal. & Assaying) A weight divisible first into a
hundred parts, and then into smaller parts.
[1913 Webster]
Note: The metallurgists use a weight divided into a hundred
equal parts, each one pound; the whole they call a
centner: the pound is divided into thirty-two parts, or
half ounces; the half ounce into two quarters; and each
of these into two drams. But the assayers use different
weights. With them a centner is one dram, to which the
other parts are proportioned.
[1913 Webster]
2. The commercial hundredweight in several of the continental
countries, varying in different places from 100 to about
112 pounds.
[1913 Webster]