meridian

noun

1. 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.
2. (also)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.

   “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: […]”

   “Thought he, it’s a wicked world in all meridians; I’ll die a pagan.”

3. (broadly)The place on the celestial meridian where it is crossed by the sun or a star at its highest point.

   “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].”

4. (broadly, figuratively)The place on the celestial meridian where it is crossed by the sun or a star at its highest point.

   “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.”

   “[…] Ovid liv'd vvhen the Roman Tongue vvas in its Meridian; [Geoffrey] Chaucer, in the Davvning of our Language: […]”

   “This was the moment at which the fortunes of Montague reached the meridian. The decline was close at hand.”

5. (broadly, figuratively, specifically)The place on the celestial meridian where it is crossed by the sun or a star at its highest point.

   “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.”

   “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.”

   “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.”

6. (broadly)A ring or half-ring with markings in which an artificial globe is installed and may spin.

   “Call to mind thy dream, / An earthly globe, / On whoſe meridian was engraven, / Theſe ſeas are tears, and heav'n the haven.”

7. (broadly)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).
8. (US, dated)The size of type between double great primer and canon, standardized as 44-point.
9. (obsolete)The south.

   “[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.”

10. (obsolete)Midday, noon.

    “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.”

11. (obsolete)A midday rest; a siesta.

    “"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."”

12. (obsolete)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.

    “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.”

    “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: […]”

    “All other knowledge meerly or principally ſerves the concerns of this Life, and is fitted to the meridian thereof: […]”

    “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; […]”

    “This ſuggeſtion, improbable as it vvas, had the deſired effect upon the captain, being exactly calculated for the meridian of his intellects; […]”

13. (Scotland, obsolete)An alcoholic drink taken at midday.

    “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.”

14. (Chinese, also, figuratively, rare, traditional)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.

verb

1. (also, figuratively, rare, transitive)To cause an object to reach the meridian or highest point of (something).

   “Simultaneously with the coming of the mist over earth and sea, where both seem merged into one, slowly and exactly at the same time on each side to the right and left rise and form gorgeous rainbows, that move gently up the sky. They ascend in pairs of the most brilliant color and hue. Upward they move until all the sky is meridianed with bows, which meet in a grand symphony of color in the zenith.”

   “At the foot of the promontory on which stands Peng Lai Temple is the little Christian Church of Water City, a suburb of Teng-chou. In the church are hung these words: "One volume, Old and New Testaments, circling earth, meridianing Heaven. One seven-roomed Worship Hall, backing the sea, facing the City."”

   “[T]reetops stare / Vertiginous and of two minds; and one / Is to let go; // The other, though, / Is to cling on, seeing clear / It is meridianed and centered by / The pure blue, the apple of its eye.”

2. (also, figuratively, intransitive, rare)Of a celestial body: to reach its meridian.

   “At the opposition of 1892 [James Edward] Keeler […] found, on comparing his drawings meridianed by Marth ephemeris with photographs of a globe made by him from [Giovanni] Schiaparelli's chart and set to the longitude and latitude of the time of observation: […]”

   “By the time the moon meridianed, the weather had decidedly improved and the sea had gone down.”

   “Born in Massachusetts, in 1818, neath the shadow of Bunker Hill, and, incidentally of lineage with Robert Morris of Revolutionary fame, ere his life meridianed removing with his family to beautiful "blue grass Kentucky", the home of his heart, where he wrought well and his memory is revered.”

   “The countable ribs meridianed over his blood's tides; / The scar-buttoned archipelago of his flexible spine; […]”

adj

1. (also, figuratively, not-comparable, rare)Relating to a meridian (in various senses); meridional.

   “[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.”

   “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”

   “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; […]”

2. (also, figuratively, not-comparable, rare)Relating to midday or noon.

   “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.”

   “[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.”

   “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.”

3. (also, figuratively, not-comparable, obsolete, rare)Relating to the culmination or highest point.

   “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.”

   “[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.”

4. (also, figuratively, not-comparable, obsolete, rare)Relating to the south; meridional, southern.

   “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.”

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