Definition of Zenth
Zenith, name of Arab origin given to the point of the heaven
directly overhead, being as it were the pole of the horizon, the opposite
point directly under foot being called the Nadir, a word of similar
origin; the imaginary line connecting the two passes through the centre
of the earth.
- Wikipedia
Ze"nith (?; 277), n. [OE. senyth,
OF. cenith, F. zénith, Sp. zenit,
cenit, abbrev. fr. Ar. samt-urras way of the head,
vertical place; samt way, path + al the + ras
head. Cf. Azimuth.]
1. That point in the visible celestial
hemisphere which is vertical to the spectator; the point of the
heavens directly overhead; -- opposed to nadir.
From morn
To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve,
A summer's day; and with the setting sun
Dropped from the zenith, like a falling star.
Milton.
2. hence, figuratively, the point of
culmination; the greatest height; the height of success or
prosperity.
I find my zenith doth depend upon
A most auspicious star. Shak.
This dead of midnight is the noon of thought,
And wisdom mounts her zenith with the stars.
Mrs. Barbauld.
It was during those civil troubles . . . this aspiring
family reached the zenith. Macaulay.
Zenith distance. (Astron.) See under
Distance. -- Zenith sector.
(Astron.) See Sector, 3. -- Zenith
telescope (Geodesy), a telescope specially
designed for determining the latitude by means of any two stars which
pass the meridian about the same time, and at nearly equal distances
from the zenith, but on opposite sides of it. It turns both on a
vertical and a horizontal axis, is provided with a graduated vertical
semicircle, and a level for setting it to a given zenith distance, and
with a micrometer for measuring the difference of the zenith distances
of the two stars.
Ze"nith (?; 277), n. [OE. senyth,
OF. cenith, F. zénith, Sp. zenit,
cenit, abbrev. fr. Ar. samt-urras way of the head,
vertical place; samt way, path + al the + ras
head. Cf. Azimuth.]
1. That point in the visible celestial
hemisphere which is vertical to the spectator; the point of the
heavens directly overhead; -- opposed to nadir.
From morn
To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve,
A summer's day; and with the setting sun
Dropped from the zenith, like a falling star.
Milton.
2. hence, figuratively, the point of
culmination; the greatest height; the height of success or
prosperity.
I find my zenith doth depend upon
A most auspicious star. Shak.
This dead of midnight is the noon of thought,
And wisdom mounts her zenith with the stars.
Mrs. Barbauld.
It was during those civil troubles . . . this aspiring
family reached the zenith. Macaulay.
Zenith distance. (Astron.) See under
Distance. -- Zenith sector.
(Astron.) See Sector, 3. -- Zenith
telescope (Geodesy), a telescope specially
designed for determining the latitude by means of any two stars which
pass the meridian about the same time, and at nearly equal distances
from the zenith, but on opposite sides of it. It turns both on a
vertical and a horizontal axis, is provided with a graduated vertical
semicircle, and a level for setting it to a given zenith distance, and
with a micrometer for measuring the difference of the zenith distances
of the two stars.
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
ZENITH, n. The point in the heavens directly overhead to a man
standing or a growing cabbage. A man in bed or a cabbage in the pot
is not considered as having a zenith, though from this view of the
matter there was once a considerably dissent among the learned, some
holding that the posture of the body was immaterial. These were
called Horizontalists, their opponents, Verticalists. The
Horizontalist heresy was finally extinguished by Xanobus, the
philosopher-king of Abara, a zealous Verticalist. Entering an
assembly of philosophers who were debating the matter, he cast a
severed human head at the feet of his opponents and asked them to
determine its zenith, explaining that its body was hanging by the
heels outside. Observing that it was the head of their leader, the
Horizontalists hastened to profess themselves converted to whatever
opinion the Crown might be pleased to hold, and Horizontalism took its
place among fides defuncti.
- 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue
- (astronomy)
- The point in the celestial sphere opposite the nadir.
- The point in the sky vertically above a given position or observer.
- The highest point in the sky reached by a celestial body.
- Highest point or state; peak.
- The Nuttall Encyclopedia
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