Meanings
- not comparableFacing or moving toward the zenith.
In this manner are the results to be explained which appear when a forcibly bent stem is so placed that the plane of the curve is horizontal. Under these conditions it appears that the action of gravitation predominates, since only the zenithward side underwent thickening of the cell walls.
1903, O. M. Ball, “The Effect of Tension upon the Development of Mechanical Tissues of Plants”, in Transactions of the Texas Academy of Science, volume 5, Austin, TX, page 97
alternative zenithwards
- not comparableToward the zenith.
Dixon having drifted into a hypnagogic passage in which, amid a profligacy of stars rushing by, he is traversing straight upward, Zenithward— "Eeh! Eeh!"
1997, Thomas Pynchon, chapter 51, in Mason & Dixon, 1st US edition, New York: Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN, part Two: America, page 4922 more examples
It was starlight and I explained the Signs of the Zodiac to her, and pointed out Mars, a bright dot of light creeping zenithward, towards which so many telescopes were pointed.
1898, H. G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, Book One, Chapter OneNineteen eighty-six was officially declared the “Year of Peace—Security without War,” by order of General of Forces Manuel Noriega. All over Panama, signs with that slogan blossomed, often embossed with a ring of five stars, the general’s insignia, and little white doves flapping bravely zenithward.
1990, R. M. Koster, Guillermo Sánchez Borbón, chapter 1, in In the Time of the Tyrants: Panama, 1968-1990, New York: Norton, page 42
Origin
Cite this entry
zenithward. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/zenithward
“zenithward.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/zenithward. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “zenithward,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/zenithward.
Source: zenithward on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.