century plant

century plant
    n 1: tropical American plants with basal rosettes of fibrous
         sword-shaped leaves and flowers in tall spikes; some
         cultivated for ornament or for fiber [syn: {agave},
         {century plant}, {American aloe}]
    

Maguey \Mag"uey\, n. [Sp. maguey, Mexican maguei and metl.]
   (Bot.)
   Any of several species of {Agave}, such as the {century
   plant} ({Agave Americana}), a plant requiring many years to
   come to maturity and blossoming only once before dying; and
   the {Agave atrovirens}, a Mexican plant used especially for
   making {pulque}, the source of the colorless Mexican liquor
   {mescal}; and the {cantala} ({Agave cantala}), a Philippine
   plant yielding a hard fibre used in making coarse twine. See
   {Agave}.
   [1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5]

   2. A hard fibre used in making coarse twine, derived from the
      Philippine Agave cantala ({Agave cantala}); also called
      {cantala}.
      [WordNet 1.5]
    

Century \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.]
      [1913 Webster]

            And on it said a century of prayers.  --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. A period of a hundred years; as, this event took place
      over two centuries ago.
      [1913 Webster]

   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).
         [1913 Webster]

   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.
          [1913 Webster]

   {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.
      [1913 Webster]