zenith
See also: zénith
English edit
Etymology edit
From Middle English cenyth, from Medieval Latin cenit, from Arabic سَمْت (samt, “direction, path”), from the fuller form سَمْت اَلرَّأْس (samt ar-raʔs, “direction of the head”). The -ni- for -m- is sometimes thought to be due to a misreading of the three strokes, which is plausible, though it could be a mere phonetic approximation.
Pronunciation edit
- (UK, General Australian) IPA(key): /ˈzɛn.ɪθ/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈzi.nɪθ/
Audio (UK) (file) Audio (US) (file) Audio (AU) (file)
Noun edit
zenith (plural zeniths)
- (astronomy) The point in the sky vertically above a given position or observer; the point in the celestial sphere opposite the nadir.
- 1638, Sir Thomas Herbert, Some years travels into divers parts of Asia and Afrique:
- The 12 day wee had the wind high and large ſo that in two dayes ſaile we made the Sunne our Zenith or verticall point […]
- 1671–1693: Rev. Thomas Jolly, private notebook; printed in: 1895, Henry Fishwick (editor), The Note Book of the Rev. Thomas Jolly: A.D. 1671–1693. Extracts from the Church Books of Altham and Wymondhouses, 1649–1725. And an Account of the Jolly Family of Standish, Gorton, and Altham, page 44
- In this 10th m. appeared that prodigious Comett the tayl whereof was like the blade of a double edged sword, and reached almost from the horizon to the zenith.
- 1938, Xavier Herbert, chapter XI, in Capricornia[1], New York: D. Appleton-Century, published 1943, page 180:
- In the east a pillar of cloud reared from horizon to zenith, with a kind of arm outstretched like a threatening colossus.
- (astronomy) The highest point in the sky reached by a celestial body.
- 1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC:
- […] in the middle of the day, when the sun was in the zenith, the violence of the heat was too great to stir out […]
- 1920, Peter B. Kyne, chapter II, in The Understanding Heart:
- As far to the west as Monica could see, her world was a sea of fog, […] . Above it arched a cerulean sky; as the sun climbed to the zenith, […] , the fog gradually took on a bluish tinge.
- (by extension) Highest point or state; peak.
- Winning the continental championship was the zenith of my career.
- Synonyms: acme, apogee, culmination, pinnacle
- 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
- I find my zenith doth depend upon / A most auspicious star.
- 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 13, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volumes (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:
- It was during those civil troubles […] this aspiring family reached the zenith.
- 1900, William Beckford, The History of the Caliph Vathek[2], page 173:
- "There for a while I enjoyed myself in the zenith of glory and pleasure."
Antonyms edit
Derived terms edit
Related terms edit
Translations edit
astronomy: point vertically above a position or observer
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astronomy: highest point reached by a celestial body
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highest point or state; peak
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