cen·to
(sĕn′tō)n. pl. cen·tos A poem or other literary work pieced together from the works of several authors.
[Latin centō, patchwork.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
cento
(ˈsɛntəʊ) n,
pl -tos (Poetry) a piece of writing, esp a poem, composed of quotations from other authors
[C17: from Latin, literally: patchwork garment]
CENTO
(ˈsɛntəʊ) n acronym for (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) Central Treaty Organization; an organization for military and economic cooperation formed in 1959 by the UK, Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey as a successor to the Baghdad Pact: disbanded 1979
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
Cento, Centones, Centoism
A literary or musical composition made up of selections; a string or rigmarole; a composition formed by joining scraps from other authors, 1605; a patchwork of coloured cloths, 1610.Examples: cento of blunders, 1780; of borrowed thoughts, 1859; of commonplaces, 1822; of literary works, 1605; of musical composition; of uncircumcised nations, 1647; of patchwork, 1610; of revolters of popery, 1626; of scriptural phrases; of verses, 1882.
Dictionary of Collective Nouns and Group Terms. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.