zenithal projection, n.

zenithal-projection
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zenithal-projection_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2018

# zenithal projectionnoun

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zenithal projection mean?

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

### How common is the noun zenithal projection?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1890 | 0.0029
1900 | 0.0031
1910 | 0.0038
1920 | 0.0038
1930 | 0.0046
1940 | 0.0042
1950 | 0.004
1960 | 0.0037
1970 | 0.0033
1980 | 0.0023
1990 | 0.0021
2000 | 0.0013
2010 | 0.0012

### Where does the noun zenithal projection come from?

Earliest known use

1870s

The earliest known use of the noun zenithal projection is in the 1870s.

OED's earliest evidence for zenithal projection is from 1877, in Geogr. Magazine.

### Nearby entries

1. Zendist, n. 1877–1907
2. zendo, n. 1914–
3. Zener, n.¹ 1934–
4. Zener, n.² 1949–
5. Zengakuren, n. 1950–
6. Zen garden, n. 1937–
7. zenick, n. 1801–1900
8. zenitfer, n. 1596–
9. zenith, n. & adj. a1387–
10. zenithal, adj.?1731–
11. zenithal projection, n.1877–
12. zenith-borne, adj. 1865–86
13. zenith distance, n. 1588–
14. zenith line, n. 1585–
15. zenith point, n. 1585–
16. zenith sector, n. 1775–
17. zenith sweep, n. 1790–
18. zenith telescope, n. 1803–
19. zenith tube, n. 1825–
20. zenithward, n., adv., & adj. 1655–
21. zenithwards, adv. 1826–

## Etymology

Compare French projection zénithale (1866 or earlier).

## Meaning & use

1. 1877–
   Any of a class of map projections in which a portion of the globe is projected on to a plane tangential to a point on that portion, usually made the centre of the map; also called azimuthal projection.
   Common forms are the zenithal (or azimuthal) equal-area projection, devised by the Swiss mathematician Johann Heinrich Lambert in 1772, and the zenithal (or azimuthal) equidistant projection.
   1. 1877

      > Lambert's Zenithal Projection resulted in a far less amount of distortion than those of Sanson or Bonne.

      Geogr. Magazine March 81/2
   2. 1882

      > The name zenithal projections is..derived from the fact that they can always be considered as the representation of the hemisphere situated above the horizon of the given point, and having the zenith for pole.

      T. Craig, Treat. on Projections v. 89
   3. 1974

      > Gnomic map, type of zenithal projection in which the Earth's grid is projected by radials from a point at the centre of the sphere into a tangent plane so that all great circles are represented by straight lines.

      Encyclopædia Britannica Micropædia vol. IV. 587/3
   4. 2004

      > We derive the exact..transformations for the zenithal projections most commonly used in astronomy.

      Publications of Astronomical Society of Pacific vol. 116 971/1
   cartography
   1. planisphere a1393–
      A map, chart, or scale formed by the projection of a sphere, or part of one, on a plane; a representation of a hemisphere of the earth, the sky, or…
   2. Mercator's projection 1615–
      An orthomorphic cylindrical map projection (first used by Mercator in 1568) in which the meridians are equally spaced straight lines at right…
   3. Mercator's chart 1645–
      A map drawn using Mercator's projection; (also) the projection itself.
   4. Mercator 1694–
      Mercator's projection or chart.
   5. globular projection 1720–
      A map projection in which half the earth's surface is depicted in a circle as though viewed from a point above the equator.
   6. Bonne projection 1854–
      A type of map projection in which parallels are equally spaced circular arcs, and lengths and angles are preserved along a central meridian and…
   7. zenithal projection 1877–
      Any of a class of map projections in which a portion of the globe is projected on to a plane tangential to a point on that portion, usually made the…
   8. conventional projection 1895–
      Any of a class of map projections (projection, n. 2a) which are not regular conic, cylindrical, or azimuthal projections, but are designed for…
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Frequency

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

zenithal projection is in frequency band 2, which contains words occurring between 0.001 and 0.01 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 zenithal projection, n., 1890–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1890 | 0.0029
1900 | 0.0031
1910 | 0.0038
1920 | 0.0038
1930 | 0.0046
1940 | 0.0042
1950 | 0.004
1960 | 0.0037
1970 | 0.0033
1980 | 0.0023
1990 | 0.0021
2000 | 0.0013
2010 | 0.0012

Originally published as part of the entry for zenithal, adj.

zenithal, adj. was revised in June 2018.