STEP Liddell–Scott–Jones: κέντρον

κέντρον, τό,

(κεντέω) any sharp point:

__1 horse-goad, [ἵπποι] ἄνευ κέντροιο θέοντες [[ 8th c.BC: Ilias Homerus Epicus “Illiad” 23.387, compare 430, 5th-6th c.BC: Aristophanes Comicus “Nubes” 1297, 5th-6th c.BC: Xenophon Historicus “Institutio Cyri (Cyropaedia)” 7.1.29, etc.; διπλοῖς κέντροισι 5th c.BC: Sophocles Tragicus “Oedipus Tyrannus” 809; ὄνειδος ἔτυψεν δίκαν διφρηλάτου μεσολαβεῖ κ. 4th-5th c.BC: Aeschylus Tragicus “Eumenides” 157 (Lyric poetry): post- 8th c.BC: Homerus Epicus ] Refs 8th c.BC+], ox-goad [[(8th c.BC: Homerus Epicus βουπλήξ)] Refs 8th c.BC+], used as an instrument of torture, [[ 5th c.BC: Herodotus Historicus 3.130; κέντροις καὶ μάστιξιν 5th-6th c.BC: Plato Philosophus “Leges” 777a: proverbial, πρὸς κέντρα λακτίζειν (see. λακτίζω 2); δεῖ.. κέντρου πολλάκις, οὕτω δὲ καὶ χαλινοῦ 3rd c.AD: Longinus Rhetor 2.2 ] Refs 5th c.BC+]; as a symbol of sovereignty, λαβὼν.. χερσὶν κέντρα κηδεύει πόλιν [[ 5th c.BC: Sophocles Tragicus “Fragmenta” 683. ] Refs 5th c.BC+]

__1.b metaphorically, goad, spur, incentive, [[ 5th c.BC: Pindarus Lyricus “Fragmenta.” 124.4, 4th-5th c.BC: Aeschylus Tragicus “Prometheus Vinctus” 691 (Lyric poetry)] Refs 5th c.BC+]; ποῦ γὰρ τοσοῦτο κ. ὡς μητροκτονεῖ; [[ [prev. author] “Eu.” 427; κέντροις ἔρωτος 5th c.BC: Euripides Tragicus “Hippolytus” 39, compare 1303; πόθου κ. 5th-6th c.BC: Plato Philosophus “Respublica” 573a; κέντρα καὶ ὠδῖνες [prev. author] “Phdr.” 251e; κ. ἐγερτικὸν θυμοῦ 1st-2nd c.AD: Plutarchus Biographus et Philosophus “Lycurgus” 21 ] Refs 5th c.BC+]; κέντρα πτολέμοιο, of the Argives, Oracle texts cited in [[Scholia 3rd c.BC: Theocritus Poeta Bucolicus 14.48 ] Refs 3rd c.BC+]; κ. ἐμοῦ desire for me, [[ 5th c.BC: Sophocles Tragicus “Philoctetes” 1039. ] Refs 5th c.BC+]