centrifugal
    adj 1: tending to move away from a center; "centrifugal force"
           [ant: centripetal]
    2: tending away from centralization, as of authority; "the
       division of Europe into warring blocs produces ever-
       increasing centrifugal stress"
    3: conveying information to the muscles from the CNS; "motor
       nerves" [syn: centrifugal, motor(a)]

Centrifugal \Cen*trif"u*gal\, a. [L. centrum center + fugere to
   flee.]
   1. Tending, or causing, to recede from the center.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. (Bot.)
      (a) Expanding first at the summit, and later at the base,
          as a flower cluster.
      (b) Having the radicle turned toward the sides of the
          fruit, as some embryos.
          [1913 Webster]

   Centrifugal force (Mech.), a force whose direction is from
      a center.
      [1913 Webster]

   Note: When a body moves in a circle with uniform velocity, a
         force must act on the body to keep it in the circle
         without change of velocity. The direction of this force
         is towards the center of the circle. If this force is
         applied by means of a string to the body, the string
         will be in a state of tension. To a person holding the
         other end of the string, this tension will appear to be
         directed toward the body as if the body had a tendency
         to move away from the center of the circle which it is
         describing. Hence this latter force is often called
         centrifugal force. The force which really acts on the
         body being directed towards the center of the circle is
         called centripetal force, and in some popular treatises
         the centripetal and centrifugal forces are described as
         opposing and balancing each other. But they are merely
         the different aspects of the same stress. --Clerk
         Maxwell.
         [1913 Webster]

   Centrifugal impression (Physiol.), an impression (motor)
      sent from a nerve center outwards to a muscle or muscles
      by which motion is produced.

   Centrifugal machine, A machine for expelling water or other
      fluids from moist substances, or for separating liquids of
      different densities by centrifugal action; a whirling
      table.

   Centrifugal pump, a machine in which water or other fluid
      is lifted and discharged through a pipe by the energy
      imparted by a wheel or blades revolving in a fixed case.
      Some of the largest and most powerful pumps are of this
      kind.
      [1913 Webster]

Centrifugal \Cen*trif"u*gal\, n.
   A centrifugal machine.
   [1913 Webster]