zenithalhttp://www.oed.com/dictionary/zenithal_adj%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_usezenithal, adj.
Revised 2018

zenithaladjective

  1. 1.
    ?1731–
    Situated or occurring at the zenith; relating to or in the direction of the zenith.
    1. ?1731
      Beginning our Account of Longitude at Bethlehem, and in that Part of the Heavens which was Zenithal to it..will indulge our Christian Gratitude.
      J. Squire, Proposal to determine Longitude 2
    2. 1860
      The deep zenithal blue.
      J. Tyndall, Glaciers of Alps i. v. 39
    3. 1869
      Beta and Gamma Draconis..were the two zenithal stars in June.
      E. Dunkin, Midnight Sky 57
    4. 1939
      The two zenithal periods follow each other more closely as latitude increases, until at the tropics themselves the periods become one.
      E. D. Laborde, translation of E. de Martonne, Shorter Physical Geography (revised edition) iii. 60
    5. 1961
      A continuous distribution of the O blood-group gene frequencies in Europe was..redrawn on a map of zenithal equal-area projection.
      L. F. Brosnahan, Sounds of Language iii. 74
    6. 2008
      The station..begins to be visible in our evening sky and within a week it is making spectacular zenithal passes over southern England.
      Guardian 17 September 37/3
  2. 2.
    1891–
    figurative. That is, or represents, the highest or best point of something; culminating; supreme; = zenith adj.
    1. 1891
      A zenithal paradise, a nadiral hell.
      T. Hardy, Tess of the D'Urbervilles vol. II. xxv. 56
    2. 1903
      They have known the zenithal instant of piscatorial life.
      Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine November 651/1
    3. 1995
      This is capitalism at work at its zenithal moment in history.
      International Business November 8/1

zenithal, adj. was revised in June 2018.

zenithal, adj. was last modified in December 2024.