meridian

plural meridians

1. astronomyIn 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.First known use 14th c.
2. alsoastronomyIn 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.First known use 14th c.

   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: […]

   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

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   Abominable are the tumblers into which he pours his poison. Though true cylinders without—within, the villanous green goggling glasses deceitfully tapered downwards to a cheating bottom. Parallel meridians rudely pecked into the glass, surround these footpads’ goblets. Fill to this mark, and your charge is but a penny; to this a penny more; and so on to the full glass—the Cape Horn measure, which you may gulp down for a shilling.

   1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “chapter 3”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC

   But, alas! the practices of whalemen soon convinced him that even Christians could be both miserable and wicked; infinitely more so, than all his father’s heathens. Arrived at last in old Sag Harbor; and seeing what the sailors did there; and then going on to Nantucket, and seeing how they spent their wages in that place also, poor Queequeg gave it up for lost. Thought he, it’s a wicked world in all meridians; I’ll die a pagan.

   1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “chapter 12”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC

3. broadlyThe 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].

   1729, [Alexander Pope], “Book the Third”, in The Dunciad. With Notes Variorum, and the Prolegomena of Scriblerus, London: […] Lawton Gilliver […], →OCLC, page 154

   1. broadlyfigurativelyThe highest or most developed point, or most splendid stage, of something; culmination, peak, zenith.First known use 16th c.

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

      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

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      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.

      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

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

      1700, [John] Dryden, “Preface”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC

   2. broadlyfigurativelyspecificallyChiefly followed by of: the middle period of someone's life, when they are at their full abilities or strength; one's prime.First known use 17th c.

      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.

      1645 May 7 (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

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      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.

      1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Youth and Age. XLII.”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC, pages 247–248

      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.

      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

4. broadlyA 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.

   [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

5. broadlymathematicsA line passing through the poles of any sphere; a notional line on the surface of a curved or round body (in particular, an eyeball).First known use 18th c.
6. USdatedmediaThe size of type between double great primer and canon, standardized as 44-point.
7. obsoleteThe south.First known use 14th–17th c.

   [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.

   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

8. obsoleteMidday, noon.First known use 14th–19th c.

   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.

   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: noontide, 12 o'clock, 12 noon, 12 p.m., high noon, meridiem, midday, nones

9. obsoleteA 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."

   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

10. obsoleteA particular area or situation considered as having a specific characteristic or identity; also, the characteristics, habits, or tastes of a specific group, locale, etc.First known use 16th–19th c.

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

    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

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    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.

    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

    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: […]

    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

    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; […]

    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

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

    1748, [Tobias Smollett], chapter XXVIII, in The Adventures of Roderick Random. […], volume I, London: […] [William Strahan] for J[ohn] Osborn […], →OCLC, page 253

    [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.

    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

11. ScotlandobsoleteAn alcoholic drink taken at midday.First known use 18th–19th c.

    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.

    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

present singular third person meridians · participle present meridianing · participle past meridianed · past meridianed

1. alsofigurativelyraretransitiveTo cause an object to reach the meridian or highest point of (something).

   [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.

   1954, E[dward] L[eslie] Mayo, “‘Whose Center is Everywhere’”, in David Ray, editor, Collected Poems (A New Letters Book), Kansas City, Mo.: University of Missouri; Athens, Oh.: Swallow Press, Ohio University Press, published 1981, →ISBN, page 86

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   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.

   1889, Frederic Alva Dean, “Description of the Ancient Petoséga”, in The Heroines of Petoséga […], New York, N.Y.: Hawthorne Publishing Company […], →OCLC, page 10

   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."

   1922 July, “The Eighty-fifth Annual Report of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America [Shantung Mission]”, in Minutes of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. [...] Part III: The Reports of the Boards and Permanent Committees to the One Hundred and Thirty-fourth General Assembly, Des Moines, Iowa, May 18–25, 1922, volume I (Third Series), Philadelphia, Pa.: Office of the General Assembly, […], →OCLC, page 157

2. alsofigurativelyintransitiverareOf a celestial body: to reach its meridian.

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

   1902 October 25, “The Salving of the ‘Senator’”, in William, Robert Chambers, editors, Chambers’s Journal, volume V, number 256 (Sixth Series), London; Edinburgh: W. & R. Chambers, →OCLC, chapter IV, page 741, column 1

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   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: […]

   1895 May, Percival Lowell, “On Martian Longitudes”, in George E[llery] Hale, James E[dward] Keeler, editors, The Astrophysical Journal: An International Review of Spectroscopy and Astronomical Physics, volume I, number 5, Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 397

   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.

   1934, Proceedings of the Grand Chapter of Mississippi Order of the Eastern Star: Twenty-eighth Annual Session, Meridian, Miss.: Dement Bros. Print. Co., →OCLC, page 181

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

   1951, Poems 1951: The Prize-winning Entries for the Festival of Britain, Harmondsworth, Middlesex [London]: Penguin Books, →OCLC, page 231

1. alsofigurativelynot comparablerareRelating to a meridian (in various senses); meridional.

   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; […]

   1719, [Daniel Defoe], The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe; […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC, page 220

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   [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.

   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

   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

   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

2. alsofigurativelynot comparablerarearchaic except literaryRelating to midday or noon.

   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.

   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

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   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.

   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

   [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.

   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

3. alsofigurativelynot comparableobsoleterareRelating to the culmination or highest point.

   [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.

   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

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   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.

   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

4. alsofigurativelynot comparableobsoleterareRelating 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.

   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

plural meridians

1. ChinesealsofigurativelyraretraditionalmedicineAny 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.First known use 20th c.

1. A number of places in the United States:
   1. A ghost town in Humboldt County, California.
   2. An unincorporated community in Kern County, California.
   3. A neighborhood of San Jose, Santa Clara County, California.
   4. A census-designated place in Sutter County, California, United States.
   5. An unincorporated community and census-designated place in Douglas County, Colorado.
   6. An unincorporated community in Leon County, Florida.
   7. An unincorporated community in McIntosh County, Georgia.
   8. A sizable city in Ada County, Idaho.
   9. A township in Clinton County, Illinois.
   10. A charter township in Ingham County, Michigan.
   11. A city, the county seat of Lauderdale County, Mississippi, United States.
   12. A ghost town in Jefferson County, Nebraska.
   13. A village in Cayuga County, New York.
   14. A town in Logan County, Oklahoma.
   15. A census-designated place in Stephens County, Oklahoma.
   16. A census-designated place in Butler Township, Butler County, Pennsylvania.
   17. A city, the county seat of Bosque County, Texas, United States, apparently named for the 98th meridian west, actually between 97-98 W.
   18. A neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, also known as Tangletown.