meridian
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /məˈɹɪ.dɪ.ən/
ipa: /mɪ-/
ipa: /məˈɹɪ.di.ən/
rhymes: -ɪdiən
Forms: form: meridians
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.
Senses: topics: astronomy
natural-sciences
glosses: 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.
examples: text: In this Place of Venus the Hour and Amplitude of the Sun's Riſing, for one Half of the Year, are the ſame with thoſe of his Setting in the other Half; which will alſo happen in all Places under the firſt Meridian, where he riſes and ſets: […]
ref: 1746 March 31 (Gregorian calendar), James Ferguson, “VI. The Phænomena of Venus, Represented in an Orrery Made by James Ferguson, Agreeable to the Observations of Seignior Bianchini.”, in Philosophical Transactions. Giving Some Account of the Present Undertakings, Studies, and Labours, of the Ingenious, in Many Considerable Parts of the World, volume XLIV, number 479, London: […] T. Woodward, […] ; and C. Davis […] printers to the Royal Society, →DOI, →OCLC, paragraph 15, page 140:
text: Thought he, it’s a wicked world in all meridians; I’ll die a pagan.
ref: 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “Biographical”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 62:
topics: astronomy
geography
natural-sciences
glosses: 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.
examples: text: This vvonderful perſon ſtruck Medals, vvhich he diſperſed as Tickets to his ſubſcribers: The device, a Star riſing to the Meridian, vvith this Motto, Ad Summa [To the highest]; and belovv, Inveniam Viam aut faciam [I shall either find a way or make one].
ref: 1729, [Alexander Pope], “Book the Third”, in The Dunciad. With Notes Variorum, and the Prolegomena of Scriblerus, London: […] Lawton Gilliver […], →OCLC, page 154:
glosses: The place on the celestial meridian where it is crossed by the sun or a star at its highest point.
examples: text: I haue touch'd the higheſt point of all my Greatneſſe, / And from that full Meridian of my Glory, / I haſte novv to my Setting. I ſhall fall / Like a bright exhalation in the Euening, / And no man ſee me more.
ref: 1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 221, column 2:
text: […] Ovid liv'd vvhen the Roman Tongue vvas in its Meridian; [Geoffrey] Chaucer, in the Davvning of our Language: […]
ref: 1700, [John] Dryden, “Preface”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
text: This was the moment at which the fortunes of Montague reached the meridian. The decline was close at hand.
ref: 1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XXIII, in Lady Trevelyan (Hannah More Macaulay), editor, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume V, London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, →OCLC, page 67:
glosses: The place on the celestial meridian where it is crossed by the sun or a star at its highest point.
The highest or most developed point, or most splendid stage, of something; culmination, peak, zenith.
examples: text: Natures that haue much Heat, and great and violent deſires and Perturbations, are not ripe for Action, till they haue paſſed the Meridian of their yeares: As it was with Iulius Cæſar, and Septimius Seuerus.
ref: 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Youth and Age. XLII.”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC, pages 247–248:
text: You ſeem to marvel I do not Marry all this vvhile, conſidering that I am paſt the Meridian of my Age, and that to you Knovvledge there have been overtures made me of Parties above my Degree.
ref: 1645 May 8 (Gregorian calendar), James Howell, “LX. To Tho. Young, Esq”, in Epistolæ Ho-Elianæ. Familiar Letters Domestic and Forren. […], 3rd edition, volume I, London: […] Humphrey Mos[e]ley, […], published 1655, →OCLC, section VI, page 284:
text: And here [Missolonghi],—it is impossible not to pause, and send a mournful thought forward to the visit which, fifteen years later, he paid to this same spot,—when, in the full meridian both of his age and fame, he came to lay down his life as the champion of that land, through which he now wandered a stripling and a stranger.
ref: 1819, Thomas Moore, “Notices of the Life of Lord Byron”, in Lord Byron, edited by Thomas Moore, Letters and Journals of Lord Byron: With Notices of His Life, […], volume I, London: John Murray, […], published 1830, →OCLC, page 211:
glosses: The place on the celestial meridian where it is crossed by the sun or a star at its highest point.
Chiefly followed by of: the middle period of someone's life, when they are at their full abilities or strength; one's prime.
examples: text: Call to mind thy dream, / An earthly globe, / On whoſe meridian was engraven, / Theſe ſeas are tears, and heav'n the haven.
ref: [1633], George Herbert, “The Size”, in [Nicholas Ferrar], editor, The Temple. Sacred Poems, and Private Ejaculations, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Thomas Buck and Roger Daniel; and are to be sold by Francis Green, […], →OCLC, page 132:
glosses: A ring or half-ring with markings in which an artificial globe is installed and may spin.
topics: mathematics
sciences
glosses: 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).
topics: media
printing
publishing
glosses: The size of type between double great primer and canon, standardized as 44-point.
examples: text: [T]he figure of the very earth, vvhich together vvith the vvater, is by the ſame arguments knovvne to be like a Globe: for ſo doubtleſſe it commeth to paſſe, that vvith us the ſtars about the North pole, never go dovvn; and thoſe contrarivviſe of the Meridian, never riſe.
ref: 1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book II.] Of the Unequall Rising of the Starres: Of the Eclipse, both Where and How It Commeth.”, 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 34:
glosses: The south.
examples: text: He acts his vvhole life on this earthly ſtage, / In Child-hood, Youth, Man-hood, Decripit age. / The very day that doth afford him light, / Is Morning, the Meridian, Evening, Night.
ref: 1637, Tho[mas] Heywood, “The Speech of the Second Shovv, Delivered in Paules Church-yard”, in Londini Speculum: Or, Londons Mirror, […], London: […] I[ohn] Okes […], →OCLC, signature C, verso:
synonyms: word: noontide
word: 12 o'clock
word: 12 noon
word: 12 p.m.
word: high noon
word: meridian
word: meridiem
word: midday
word: nones
word: noon
word: noonday
word: noontime
word: noon-time
word: noontide
word: sext
word: twelve
word: undern
word: undermeal
word: undertide
glosses: Midday, noon.
examples: text: "As we have," he said, "in the course of this our toilsome journey, lost our meridian, indulgence shall be given to those of our attendants who shall, from very weariness, be unable to attend the duty at prime, and this by way of misericord or indulgentia."
ref: 1820 March, [Walter Scott], chapter V, in The Monastery. A Romance. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and for Archibald Constable and Co., and John Ballantyne, […], →OCLC, pages 187–188:
glosses: A midday rest; a siesta.
examples: text: Diet, […] comprehends thoſe ſixe non naturall things, vvhich I haue before ſpecified, are eſpeciall cauſes, and being rectified, a ſole or chiefe part of the Cure. […] VVhich hovvſoeuer I treat of, as proper to the Meridian of melancholy, yet neuertheleſſe that vvhich is here ſaid, vvill generally ſerue moſt other diſeaſes, and eaſe them likevviſe, if it be obſerued.
ref: 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Diet Rectified in Substance”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 2, section 2, member 1, subsection 1, pages 200–201:
text: A VVorke not ſmelling of the Lampe, to night, / But fitted for your Maieſties diſport, / And vvrit to the Meridian of your Court, / VVe bring; and hope it may produce delight: […]
ref: 1625 (first performance), Ben[jamin] Jonson, “The Prologue for the Court”, in The Staple of Newes. […], London: […] I[ohn] B[eale] for Robert Allot […], published 1631, →OCLC, page 6:
text: All other knowledge meerly or principally ſerves the concerns of this Life, and is fitted to the meridian thereof: […]
ref: a. 1677 (date written), Matthew Hale, “The Introduction, Declaring the Reason of the Choice of This Subject, and the Method of the Intended Discourse”, in The Primitive Origination of Mankind, Considered and Examined According to the Light of Nature, London: […] William Godbid, for William Shrowsbery, […], published 1677, →OCLC, section I, page 7:
text: I repreſented to him the good Reception the two firſt Parts had met, that tho' they had been calculated by him, only for the Meridian of Grub-ſtreet, yet they were taken notice of by the better ſort; […]
ref: 1712, Humphry Polesworth [pseudonym; John Arbuthnot], “The Publisher’s Preface”, in John Bull Still in His Senses: Being the Third Part of Law is a Bottomless-Pit. […], London: […] John Morphew, […], →OCLC, page 5:
text: This ſuggeſtion, improbable as it vvas, had the deſired effect upon the captain, being exactly calculated for the meridian of his intellects; […]
ref: 1748, [Tobias Smollett], chapter XXVIII, in The Adventures of Roderick Random. […], volume I, London: […] [William Strahan] for J[ohn] Osborn […], →OCLC, page 253:
text: [H]is accompliſhments were exactly calculated for the meridian of female taſte; and with certain individuals of that ſex, his muſcular frame, and the robuſt connection of his limbs, were more attractive than the delicate proportions of his companion.
ref: 1751, [Tobias] Smollett, “The Two Friends Eclipse All Their Competitors in Gallantry, and Practise a Pleasant Project of Revenge upon the Physicians of the Place”, in The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC, page 202, column 2:
text: She loves to gossip about the Abbey and Lord Byron, and was soon drawn into a course of anecdotes, though mostly of a humble kind, suited to the meridian of the housekeeper's room and servants' hall.
ref: 1835, [Washington Irving], “[Newstead Abbey.] Superstitions of the Abbey.”, in Abbotsford and Newstead Abbey (The Crayon Miscellany; no. 2), Philadelphia, Pa.: [Henry Charles] Carey, [Isaac] Lea, & Blanchard, →OCLC, page 140:
glosses: A particular area or situation considered as having a specific characteristic or identity; also, the characteristics, habits, or tastes of a specific group, locale, etc.
examples: text: Plumdamas joined the other two gentlemen in taking their meridian (a bumper-dram of brandy), as they passed the well-known low-browed shop in the Lawn-Market, where they were wont to take that refreshment.
ref: 1818 July 25, Jedediah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter III, in Tales of My Landlord, Second Series, […] (The Heart of Mid-Lothian), volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Company, →OCLC, page 110:
glosses: An alcoholic drink taken at midday.
Derived terms: antimeridian
autonomous sensory meridian response
circummeridian
extrameridian
Ferro meridian
Greenwich meridian
hemimeridian
meridianal
meridianally
meridian fennel
meridian termite
prime meridian
semimeridian
standard meridian
transmeridian
Washington Meridian Time
zero meridian
Related terms: méridienne
meridienne
meridional
meridionally