meridian

Meaning

Adj

1. Relating to a meridian (in various senses); meridional.
2. Relating to midday or noon.
3. (obsolete) Relating to the culmination or highest point.
4. (obsolete) Relating to the south; meridional, southern.

Noun

1. In full celestial meridian: a great circle passing through the poles of the celestial sphere and the zenith for a particular point on the Earth's surface.
2. In full terrestrial meridian: a great circle on the Earth's surface, passing through the geographic poles (the terrestrial North Pole and South Pole); also, half of such a circle extending from pole to pole, all points of which have the same longitude.
3. The place on the celestial meridian where it is crossed by the sun or a star at its highest point.
4. The place on the celestial meridian where it is crossed by the sun or a star at its highest point.
5. A ring or half-ring with markings in which an artificial globe is installed and may spin.
6. A line passing through the poles of any sphere; a notional line on the surface of a curved or round body (in particular, an eyeball).
7. The size of type between double great primer and canon, standardized as 44-point.
8. (obsolete) The south.
9. (obsolete) Midday, noon.
10. (obsolete) A midday rest; a siesta.
11. (obsolete) A particular area or situation considered as having a specific characteristic or identity; also, the characteristics, habits, or tastes of a specific group, locale, etc.
12. (obsolete) An alcoholic drink taken at midday.

Verb

1. To cause an object to reach the meridian or highest point of (something).
2. Of a celestial body: to reach its meridian.

Noun

Any of the pathways on the body along which chi or qi (life force) is thought to flow and, therefore, the acupoints are distributed; especially, one of twelve such pathways associated with organs of the body.

Synonyms

noon

🕛

longitude

midday

noontime

zenith

afternoon

peak

culmination

noonday

meridional

acme

channel

elevation

height

line of longitude

noontide

pinnacle

prime

summit

superlative

tiptop

top

🔝

warp

meridianus

principal vertical circle

transit meridian

longitude meridian

vertex

channels and collaterals

meridian line

apex

meridian circle

pass through

climax

prime of life

twelve o’clock

southern

parallel of longitude

Hyphenated as

me‧ri‧di‧an

Pronounced as (IPA)

/məˈɹɪ.dɪ.ən/

Etymology

PIE word
*médʰyos
From Late Middle English meridian, meridien (“relating to midday or noon; southern; (astronomy) relating to the celestial meridian”) [and other forms], from Middle French meridien, Old French meridiane (“relating to midday; southern”) (whence Anglo-Norman meridien; modern French méridien), and from their etymon Latin merīdiānus (“relating to midday; southern”), from merīdiēs (“midday, noon; the south (due to the southward orientation of the sun at noon in the Northern Hemisphere)”) + -ānus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’). Merīdiēs is a dissimilated form of Old Latin medīdiēs (with the -d- sound shifted to -r-), from medius (“middle”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos (“middle”)) + diēs (“day”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dyew- (“heaven, sky; to be bright”)).