Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CEN-TRIP'E-TAL, a. [L. centrum, and peto, to move toward.]

1. Tending toward the center. Centripetal force is that force which draws or impels a body toward some point as a center; as in case of a planet revolving round the sun, the center of the system.
2. In botany, expanding first at the base of the inflorescence, and later at the summit, as a flower. – Lindley. Note. – The common accentuation of centrifugal and centripetal is artificial and harsh. The accent on the first and third syllables, as in circumpolar, would be natural and easy.