Zenith
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: /ˈzɛn.ɪθ/
- US IPA: /ˈzi.nɪθ/
Origin
From Middle English senith, from cinit, from Old French cenit and/or Latin cenit, a transliteration of Arabic سمت (samt, "direction, path") which is in itself a weak abbreviation of سمت الرأس (samt ar-ra's, "direction of the head").
Full definition of zenith
Noun
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 Herbert, Sir Thomas Some years travels into divers parts of Asia and AfriqueThe 12 day wee had the wind high and large Å¿o that in two dayes Å¿aile 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 44In 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.
- (astronomy) The highest point in the sky reached by a celestial body.
- 1719- Daniel Defoe, ...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, The Understanding Heart, Chapter II: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.
- Highest point or state; peak.
- ShakespeareI find my zenith doth depend upon
A most auspicious star. - MacaulayIt was during those civil troubles ... this aspiring family reached the zenith.
- 1900, William Beckford, The History of the Caliph Vathek, "There for a while I enjoyed myself in the zenith of glory and pleasure."
Derived terms
Synonyms
- (highest point or state) acme, apogee, culmination, pinnacle