'Century plant' definitions:

Definition of 'century plant'

From: WordNet
noun
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]

Definition of 'Century plant'

From: GCIDE
  • 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]

Definition of 'century plant'

From: GCIDE
  • 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]