meridian
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /məˈɹɪ.dɪ.ən/
ipa: /mɪ-/
ipa: /məˈɹɪ.di.ən/
rhymes: -ɪdiən
Etymology: PIE word
 *médʰyos
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”)).
Senses: examples: text: [T]he Tuſcanes have devided the Heaven into 16 parts. The firſt, is from the North to the Sunnes riſing in the Equinoctiall line: the ſecond, to the Meridian line, or the South: the third, to the Sunne ſetting in the Equinoctiall: and the fourth, taketh up all the reſt from the ſaid VVest to the North ſtarre.
ref: 1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book II.] Generall Rules of Lightning.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 1st tome, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 27:
text: The Reliques of many lie like the ruines of Pompeys, in all parts of the earth; And vvhen they arrive at your hands, theſe may ſeem to have vvandred far, vvho in a direct and Meridian Travell, have but few miles of knovvn Earth betvveen your ſelf and the Pole
ref: 1658, Thomas Browne, “To My Worthy and Honoured Friend Thomas Le Gros of Crostwick Esquire”, in Hydriotaphia, Urne-buriall, […] Together with The Garden of Cyrus, […], London: […] Hen[ry] Brome […], →OCLC:
text: I ſhall not peſter my Account, or the Reader, with Deſcriptions of Places, Journals of our Voyages, Variations of the Compaſs, Latitudes, Meridian-Diſtances, Trade-Winds, Situation of Ports, and the like; […]
ref: 1719, [Daniel Defoe], The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe; […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC, page 220:
glosses: Relating to a meridian (in various senses); meridional.
examples: text: At the meridian hour he [Philippikos Bardanes] withdrew to his chamber, intoxicated with flattery and wine, and forgetful that his example had made every ſubject ambitious, and that every ambitious ſubject was his ſecret enemy.
ref: 1781, Edward Gibbon, “Plan of the Fifth and Sixth Volumes.—Succession and Characters of the Greek Emperors of Constantinople, from the Time of Heraclius to the Latin Conquest”, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume III, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, pages 18–19:
text: [It may be] that two glasses of alcoholic mixture in the middle of the day shall seem, when imputed to him, to convey a charge of downright inebriety. But the writer has perhaps learned to regard two glasses of meridian wine as but a moderate amount of sustentation.
ref: 1880 May–December, Anthony Trollope, “‘Everybody’s Business’”, in Dr. Wortle’s School. […], volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1881, →OCLC, part V, page 31:
text: Daylight came at nine o'clock. At midday the sky to the south warmed to rose-color, and marked where the bulge of the earth intervened between the meridian sun and the northern world.
ref: 1906 May–October, Jack London, “The She-wolf”, in White Fang, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., published October 1906, →OCLC, part 1 (The Wild), page 15:
qualifier: archaic except literary
glosses: Relating to midday or noon.
examples: text: This obvious difference marked the two portions of the empire with a diſtinction of colours, which, though it was in ſome degree concealed during the meridian ſplendor of proſperity, became gradually more viſible, as the ſhades of night deſcended upon the Roman world.
ref: 1776, Edward Gibbon, “Of the Union and Internal Prosperity of the Roman Empire, in the Age of the Antonines”, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, page 38:
text: [I]n the meridian times of stage-coach travelling [the Buck's Head inn] had been the place where many coaches changed and kept their relays of horses.
ref: 1874, Thomas Hardy, “Joseph and His Burden—Buck’s Head”, in Far from the Madding Crowd. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC, page 139:
glosses: Relating to the culmination or highest point.
examples: text: A stranger loves the lady of the land, / Born far beyond the mountains, but his blood / Is all meridian, as if never fann'd / By the black wind that chills the polar flood.
ref: 1819, Lord Byron, “Notices of the Life of Lord Byron”, in Thomas Moore, editor, Letters and Journals of Lord Byron: With Notices of His Life, […], volume II, London: John Murray, […], published 1830, →OCLC, page 214:
glosses: Relating to the south; meridional, southern.
Derived terms: postmeridian