A Topical Dictionary: Search for Zenith

Dictionary Results For "Zenith" [?]/[OPML]

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English

Etymology

From from from and/or from {{term|سمت|السَّمْت|direction of heads|tr=as-samt|lang=ar|sc=Arab}}.

Pronunciation

IPA: /'zen.iθ/

Noun

* 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.

Synonyms

culmination

Antonyms

nadir

Translations

Arabic: سَمْت ,ذروة
Croatian: {{t-|hr|zenit|m}}
Czech: {{t+|cs|nadhlavník|m}}
Finnish:
French: {{t+|fr|zénith|m}}
German: {{t-|de|Zenit|m}}

Italian: {{t-|it|zenit|m}}
Japanese: {{t|ja|天頂|tr=tenchō|sc=Jpan}}
Polish: zenit , apogeum
Portuguese: {{t+|pt|zênite|m}}
Spanish: {{t+|es|cenit|m}}

Arabic: سَمْت ,ذروة
Croatian: {{t-|hr|zenit|m}}
Finnish: huippu, huipennus, huippukohta, kohokohta
French: {{t+|fr|zénith|m}}

German: {{t-|de|Zenit|m}}
Italian: {{t-|it|zenit|m}}, {{t+|it|culmine|m}}, {{t+|it|apice|m}}
Japanese: {{t-|ja|頂点|tr=chōten|sc=Jpan}}, {{t|ja|絶頂|tr=zecchō|sc=Jpan}}
Spanish: {{t-|es|apogeo|m}}, {{t+|es|cenit|m}}

Translations to be checked

de:zenith fa:zenith fr:zenith io:zenith it:zenith ja:zenith pl:zenith ru:zenith ta:zenith te:zenith vi:zenith zh:zenith

GNU Project's publication of CIDE, the Collaborative International Dictionary of English Zenith \Ze"nith\ (?; 277), n. [OE. senyth, OF. cenith, F.
z['e]nith, Sp. zenit, cenit, abbrev. fr. Ar. samt-urras way
of the head, vertical place; samt way, path + al the + ras
head. Cf. Azimuth.]
[1913 Webster]
1. That point in the visible celestial hemisphere which is
vertical to the spectator; the point of the heavens
directly overhead; -- opposed to nadir.
[1913 Webster]

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.
[1913 Webster]

2. hence, figuratively, the point of culmination; the
greatest height; the height of success or prosperity.
[1913 Webster]

I find my zenith doth depend upon
A most auspicious star. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]

This dead of midnight is the noon of thought,
And wisdom mounts her zenith with the stars. --Mrs.
Barbauld.
[1913 Webster]

It was during those civil troubles . . . this
aspiring family reached the zenith. --Macaulay.
[1913 Webster]

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.
[1913 Webster]

WordNet zenith
n : the point above the observer that is directly opposite the
nadir on the imaginary sphere against which celestial
bodies appear to be projected [ant: nadir]

Moby Dictionary
Olympian heights , acme , aerial heights , apex , apogee , authority ,
authorization , be-all and end-all , blue ribbon , brow , cap ,
capstone , championship , climax , cloud nine , command , control ,
crest , crown , culmen , culmination , directorship , dizzy heights ,
dominion , edge , effectiveness , elevation , eminence , ether ,
extreme limit , extremity , first place , first prize , headship ,
heaven , heavens , hegemony , height , heights , high noon , high point ,
highest , highest pitch , highest point , imperium , influence ,
jurisdiction , kingship , leadership , lift , limit , lordship ,
management , mastership , mastery , maximum , meridian , most ,
mountaintop , ne plus ultra , new high , no place higher , noon , palms ,
paramountcy , peak , pinnacle , pitch , point , pole , power , presidency ,
primacy , raise , record , ridge , rise , rising ground , rule , say ,
seventh heaven , sky , sovereignty , spire , steep , stratosphere ,
summit , supremacy , sway , tip , tip-top , top , top spot , upmost ,
upper extremity , uppermost , uprise , utmost , vantage ground ,
vantage point , vertex , very top

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_.