meridian
UK /məˈɹɪ.dɪ.ən/ · US /məˈɹɪ.di.ən/ noun, verb, adjective, proper noun
Forms meridians meridianing meridianed
- noun In full celestial meridian: a great circle passing through the poles of the celestial sphere and the zenith for a particular point on the Earth's surface.
- noun (also geography) In full terrestrial meridian: a great circle on the Earth's surface, passing through the geographic poles (the terrestrial North Pole and South Pole); also, half of such a circle extending from pole to pole, all points of which have the same longitude.
- noun The place on the celestial meridian where it is crossed by the sun or a star at its highest point.
- noun (figuratively) The highest or most developed point, or most splendid stage, of something; culmination, peak, zenith.
- noun (figuratively, specifically) Chiefly followed by of: the middle period of someone's life, when they are at their full abilities or strength; one's prime.
- noun A ring or half-ring with markings in which an artificial globe is installed and may spin.
- noun (mathematics) A line passing through the poles of any sphere; a notional line on the surface of a curved or round body (in particular, an eyeball).
- noun (US, printing, dated) The size of type between double great primer and canon, standardized as 44-point.
- verb (transitive) To cause an object to reach the meridian or highest point of (something).
- verb (intransitive) Of a celestial body: to reach its meridian.
- adjective Relating to a meridian (in various senses); meridional.
- adjective (archaic except literary) Relating to midday or noon.
- adjective Relating to the culmination or highest point.
- adjective Relating to the south; meridional, southern.
- noun (acupuncture, traditional Chinese medicine) Any of the pathways on the body along which chi or qi (life force) is thought to flow and, therefore, the acupoints are distributed; especially, one of twelve such pathways associated with organs of the body.
- proper noun A ghost town in Humboldt County, California.
- proper noun An unincorporated community in Kern County, California.
- proper noun A neighborhood of San Jose, Santa Clara County, California.
- proper noun A census-designated place in Sutter County, California, United States.
- proper noun An unincorporated community and census-designated place in Douglas County, Colorado.
Synonyms
noontide 12 o'clock 12 noon 12 p.m. high noon meridiem midday nones noon noonday noontime noon-time sext twelve undern undermeal undertide acme height elevation peak pinnacle summit superlative tiptop top line of longitude prime
Etymology
The noun is derived from Late Middle English meridian, meridien (“midday, noon; position of the sun at noon; the south; longitude of a place; (astronomy) celestial meridian”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman meridien (“midday”), Middle French meridien (“midday; the south; terrestrial meridian; (astronomy) celestial meridian”) (modern French méridien), and Old French meridiane, meridiiene, and from their etymon Latin merīdiānum (“midday; position of the sun at noon; the south”), a noun use of the neuter form of merīdiānus (“relating to midday; southern”); see further at etymology 1.
Sense 1.1 (“celestial meridian”) is ultimately modelled after Latin merīdiāna līnea (“meridian line”). Sense 5.2 (“midday rest; siesta”) is modelled after Late Latin meridiana (“midday; midday rest”), probably short for Latin merīdiāna hōra (“midday time”).
The verb is derived from the noun.
From Late Middle English meridian, meridien (“relating to midday or noon; southern; (astronomy) relating to the celestial meridian”) [and other forms], from Middle French meridien, Old French meridiane (“relating to midday; southern”) (whence Anglo-Norman meridien; modern French méridien), and from their etymon Latin merīdiānus (“relating to midday; southern”), from merīdiēs (“midday, noon; the south (due to the southward orientation of the sun at noon in the Northern Hemisphere)”) + -ānus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’). Merīdiēs is a dissimilated form of Old Latin medīdiēs (with the -d- sound shifted to -r-), from medius (“middle”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos (“middle”)) + diēs (“day”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dyew- (“heaven, sky; to be bright”)).
Borrowed from French méridien or German Meridian (“pathway on the body along which life force is thought to flow”), from Latin merīdiānum (“midday; position of the sun at noon; the south”) (see further at etymology 2); the French and German words are calques of Mandarin 經 /经, 经 (jīng, “pathway on the body along which life force is thought to flow; longitude; warp of woven fabric; to go or pass through”).
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Being at, or pertaining to, midday; belonging to, or passing through, the highest point attained by the sun in his diurnal course.
- adjective Pertaining to the highest point or culmination; as, meridian splendor.
- noun Midday; noon.
- noun Hence: The highest point, as of success, prosperity, or the like; culmination.
Etymology [F. méridien, L. meridianus pertaining to noon, fr. meridies noon, midday, for older medidies; medius mid, middle + dies day. See Mid, and Diurnal.]
Etymology [F. méridien. See Meridian, a.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “meridian”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details