zenithwards, adv.

zenithwards
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zenithwards_adv%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2018

# zenithwardsadverb

## Factsheet

### What does the adverb zenithwards mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the adverb zenithwards. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.

### How common is the adverb zenithwards?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1860 | 0.0011
1870 | 0.0009
1880 | 0.0008
1890 | 0.0008
1900 | 0.0006
1910 | 0.0006
1920 | 0.0004
1930 | 0.0002
1940 | 0.0002
1950 | 0.0001
1960 | 0.0001
1970 | 0.0001
1980 | 0.00005
1990 | 0.00005
2000 | 0.00003
2010 | 0.00003

### How is the adverb zenithwards pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzɛnɪθwədz/
ZEN-ith-wuhdz
/ˈziːnɪθwədz/
ZEE-nith-wuhdz

#### U.S. English

/ˈzinᵻθwərdz/
ZEE-nuhth-wuhrdz

### Where does the adverb zenithwards come from?

Earliest known use

1820s

The earliest known use of the adverb zenithwards is in the 1820s.

OED's earliest evidence for zenithwards is from 1826, in Asiatic Journal & Monthly Register.

zenithwards is formed within English, by derivation.

Etymons: zenith n., ‑wards suffix.

### Nearby entries

1. zenithal projection, n. 1877–
2. zenith-borne, adj. 1865–86
3. zenith distance, n. 1588–
4. zenith line, n. 1585–
5. zenith point, n. 1585–
6. zenith sector, n. 1775–
7. zenith sweep, n. 1790–
8. zenith telescope, n. 1803–
9. zenith tube, n. 1825–
10. zenithward, n., adv., & adj. 1655–
11. zenithwards, adv.1826–
12. Zenker, n.¹ 1872–
13. Zenker, n.² 1894–
14. Zen-like, adj. a1908–
15. Zen master, n. 1907–
16. Zenned-out, adj. 1968–
17. Zennist, adj. & n. 1904–
18. zeno-, comb. form
19. zenocentric, adj. 1911–
20. Zenocratically, adv. 1588
21. zenographic, adj. 1853–

## Etymology

### Summary

Formed within English, by derivation.
< zenith n. + ‑wards suffix.

Compare zenithward adv.

## Meaning & use

1. 1826–
   Towards the zenith; in the direction of the zenith. Also figurative.
   1. 1826

      > A number of rockets were thrown at the car, until at length it caught fire and blew up, carrying the Poonhgee..zenithwards.

      Asiatic Journal & Monthly Register October 379
   2. 1863

      > It does awaken our surprise when we read how they [sc. balloonists] soared zenithwards six miles.

      Liverpool Mercury 16 December 6/6
   3. 1871

      > The meridian sun..is..climbing zenithwards.

      A. Stewart, Nether Lochaber (1883) xxii. 128
   4. 1917

      > All building materials and labor costs are merrily fluctuating or moving zenithwards.

      J. R. McMahon, Success in Suburbs vi. 127
   5. 2015

      > The sun moved slowly zenithwards.

      G. Holderness, Re-Writing Jesus 172
   astronomy
   1. zenithwards 1826–
      Towards the zenith; in the direction of the zenith. Also figurative.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzɛnɪθwədz/
ZEN-ith-wuhdz
/ˈziːnɪθwədz/
ZEE-nith-wuhdz

### U.S. English

/ˈzinᵻθwərdz/
ZEE-nuhth-wuhrdz

####

##### Consonants

- ppea
- ttea
- kkey
- bbuy
- ddye
- ɡguy
- tʃchore
- dʒjay
- ffore
- θthaw
- ssore
- ʃshore
- vvee
- ðthee
- zzee
- ʒbeige
- xloch
- hhay
- llay
- ɬrhingyll
- rray
- wway
- jyore
- mmay
- nnay
- ŋsing

Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence /ˈpɛtl/ but /ˈpɛtl̩i/.

##### Vowels

- iːfleece
- ihappy
- ɪkit
- ɛdress
- atrap, bath
- ɑːstart, palm, bath
- ɒlot
- ɔːthought, force
- ʌstrut
- ʊfoot
- uːgoose
- əletter
- əːnurse
- ɪənear
- ɛːsquare
- ʊəcure
- eɪface
- ʌɪpride
- aʊmouth
- əʊgoat
- ɔɪvoice
- ãgratin
- ɒ̃salon
- ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
- ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)

##### Other symbols

- The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
- The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
- Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.

View the pronunciation model here.

####

##### Consonants

- ppea
- ttea
- kkey
- bbuy
- ddye*
- ɡguy
- tʃchore
- dʒjay
- ffore
- θthaw
- ssore
- ʃshore
- vvee
- ðthee
- zzee
- ʒbeige
- xloch
- hhay
- llay
- rray
- wway
- jyore
- mmay
- nnay
- ŋsing

* /d/ also represents a 'tapped' /t/ as in

Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence /ˈpɛd(ə)l/ but /ˈpɛdl̩i/.

##### Vowels

- ifleece, happy
- ɪkit
- ɛdress
- ætrap, bath
- ɑlot, palm, cloth, thought
- ɑrstart
- ɔcloth, thought
- ɔrnorth, force
- ʊfoot
- ugoose
- əstrut, comma
- ərnurse, letter
- ɪ(ə)rnear
- ɛ(ə)rsquare
- ʊ(ə)rcure
- eɪface
- aɪpride
- aʊmouth
- oʊgoat
- ɔɪvoice
- ɑ̃gratin
- æ̃salon
- ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
- ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)

##### Other symbols

- The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
- The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
- Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.

View the pronunciation model here.

####

Simple text respell breaks words into syllables, separated by a hyphen. The syllable which carries the primary stress is written in capital letters. This key covers both British and U.S. English Simple Text Respell.

##### Consonants

b, d, f, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w and z have their standard English values

- gguy
- jjay
- yyore
- chchore
- khloch
- shshore
- ththaw
- dhthee
- zhbeige

##### Vowels

- atrap
- ahpalm
- airsquare
- arstart
- arrcarry (British only)
- awthought
- ayface
- a(ng)gratin
- edress
- eefleece
- eerdeer
- errmerry
- ikit
- ighpride
- irrmirror
- olot (British only)
- ohgoat
- oogoose
- oorcure
- orforce
- orrsorry (British only)
- owmouth
- oyvoice
- o(ng)salon
- ustrut
- uhletter
- urnurse
- urrhurry
- uufoot

## Frequency

zenithwards typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.

zenithwards is in frequency band 1, which contains words occurring fewer than 0.001 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands

Frequency data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.

### Frequency of zenithwards, adv., 1860–2010

* Occurrences per million words in written English

Historical frequency series are derived from Google Books Ngrams (version 2), a data set based on the Google Books corpus of several million books printed in English between 1500 and 2010.

The overall frequency for a given word is calculated by summing frequencies for the main form of the word, any plural or inflected forms, and any major spelling variations.

For sets of homographs (distinct entries that share the same word-form, e.g. mole, n.¹, mole, n.², mole, n.³, etc.), we have estimated the frequency of each homograph entry as a fraction of the total Ngrams frequency for the word-form. This may result in inaccuracies.

Smoothing has been applied to series for lower-frequency words, using a moving-average algorithm. This reduces short-term fluctuations, which may be produced by variability in the content of the Google Books corpus.

Decade | Frequency per million words
--- | ---
1860 | 0.0011
1870 | 0.0009
1880 | 0.0008
1890 | 0.0008
1900 | 0.0006
1910 | 0.0006
1920 | 0.0004
1930 | 0.0002
1940 | 0.0002
1950 | 0.0001
1960 | 0.0001
1970 | 0.0001
1980 | 0.00005
1990 | 0.00005
2000 | 0.00003
2010 | 0.00003

Originally published as part of the entry for zenith, n. & adj.

zenithwards, adv. was revised in June 2018.

zenithwards, adv. was last modified in July 2023.