zenithward, n., adv., & adj.

zenithward
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zenithward_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2018

# zenithwardnoun, adverb, & adjective

## Factsheet

### What does the word zenithward mean?

There are three meanings listed in OED's entry for the word zenithward. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.

### How common is the word zenithward?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1850 | 0.0011
1860 | 0.0014
1870 | 0.0013
1880 | 0.0016
1890 | 0.0018
1900 | 0.0019
1910 | 0.0019
1920 | 0.0016
1930 | 0.0013
1940 | 0.0012
1950 | 0.0008
1960 | 0.0006
1970 | 0.0004
1980 | 0.0004
1990 | 0.0005
2000 | 0.0005
2010 | 0.0005

### How is the word zenithward pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzɛnɪθwəd/
ZEN-ith-wuhd
/ˈziːnɪθwəd/
ZEE-nith-wuhd

#### U.S. English

/ˈzinᵻθwərd/
ZEE-nuhth-wuhrd

### Where does the word zenithward come from?

Earliest known use

mid 1600s

The earliest known use of the word zenithward is in the mid 1600s.

OED's earliest evidence for zenithward is from 1655, in the writing of T. Stirrup.

zenithward is formed within English, by derivation.

Etymons: zenith n., ‑ward suffix.

### Nearby entries

1. zenithal, adj.?1731–
2. zenithal projection, n. 1877–
3. zenith-borne, adj. 1865–86
4. zenith distance, n. 1588–
5. zenith line, n. 1585–
6. zenith point, n. 1585–
7. zenith sector, n. 1775–
8. zenith sweep, n. 1790–
9. zenith telescope, n. 1803–
10. zenith tube, n. 1825–
11. zenithward, n., adv., & adj.1655–
12. zenithwards, adv. 1826–
13. Zenker, n.¹ 1872–
14. Zenker, n.² 1894–
15. Zen-like, adj. a1908–
16. Zen master, n. 1907–
17. Zenned-out, adj. 1968–
18. Zennist, adj. & n. 1904–
19. zeno-, comb. form
20. zenocentric, adj. 1911–
21. Zenocratically, adv. 1588

## Etymology

### Summary

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

Compare zenithwards adv.

## Meaning & use

1. noun
   1. 1655–
      The direction leading towards the zenith; that which is closest to the zenith. rare.
      1. 1655

         > Count..the angle subtended by the side required, among the almicanters, counted from the zenithward downward on both sides.

         T. Stirrup, Descr. & Use Universall Quadrat ii. lv. 145
      2. 1935

         > The inclination of the direction of this force is rotating slowly from zenithward to nadirward.

         Terrestr. Magnetism & Atmospheric Electr. vol. 40 61
2. adverb
   1. 1835–
      Towards the zenith; in the direction of the zenith.
      1. 1835

         > My venerable tabby was lifted from the chair..and went dangling off, zenith-ward.

         W. G. Clark in Knickerbocker January 58
      2. 1868

         > It was as a ray of everlasting light and insight this, that had shot itself zenithward from the soul of a man.

         T. Carlyle, Journal 8 June in J. A. Froude, Thomas Carlyle: Life in London (1884) vol. II. xxxi. 371
      3. 1881

         > The streamers..still ascending zenithward.

         Nature 10 February 351/1
      4. 1901

         > Then, at length, the moon abruptly soared zenithward from out the veiling mist.

         F. Norris, Octopus ii. iii. 387
      5. 1917

         > Fountains of light spouting their torrents of splendor zenithward.

         Monist vol. 27 343
      6. 1997

         > Dixon..is traversing straight upward, Zenithward.

         T. Pynchon, Mason & Dixon 491
      1. up Old English–
         Towards a point overhead, or away from the surface of the earth; into the air.
      2. aloft c1175–
         To or towards a higher place, level, or position; upward; to a position above the observer. Also: into the sky; into the air.
      3. to (the) skyward 1582–1906
         to (the) skyward: towards or in the direction of the sky. Obsolete (poetic in later use).
      4. skyward 1655–
         Towards the sky, in the direction of the sky; up into the sky. Cf. skywards, adv.
      5. skywards 1755–
         Towards the sky; = skyward, adv.
      6. cloudward 1817–
         Towards the clouds.
      7. starward 1818–
         To or towards the stars or a (particular) star; in the direction of the stars.
      8. airward 1820–
         Towards the air, upward.
      9. zenithward 1835–
         Towards the zenith; in the direction of the zenith.
      10. airwards 1852–
          = airward, adv.
      11. cloudwards 1856–
      12. skywardly 1893–
          Towards or in the direction of the sky.
      View in Historical Thesaurus
3. adjective
   1. 1878–
      Pointing, directed, or moving towards the zenith. Somewhat rare.
      1. 1878

         > His electric, tentacular eyes..and his zenithward hair attract for him much attention.

         Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Daily Sentinel 19 August
      2. 1914

         > Bright as the sun in its zenithward way.

         Sister Mary Clara, Preludes 55
      3. 2006

         > The zenithward shift in the apparent position of the star.

         D. S. Birney et al., Observational Astronomy (ed. 2) iv. 79

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzɛnɪθwəd/
ZEN-ith-wuhd
/ˈziːnɪθwəd/
ZEE-nith-wuhd

### U.S. English

/ˈzinᵻθwərd/
ZEE-nuhth-wuhrd

####

##### 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

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

zenithward 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 zenithward, n., adv., & adj., 1850–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1850 | 0.0011
1860 | 0.0014
1870 | 0.0013
1880 | 0.0016
1890 | 0.0018
1900 | 0.0019
1910 | 0.0019
1920 | 0.0016
1930 | 0.0013
1940 | 0.0012
1950 | 0.0008
1960 | 0.0006
1970 | 0.0004
1980 | 0.0004
1990 | 0.0005
2000 | 0.0005
2010 | 0.0005

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

zenithward, n., adv., & adj. was revised in June 2018.

zenithward, n., adv., & adj. was last modified in July 2023.