Definition of "zenith"

zenith

/ˈzɛn.ɪθ/

noun
plural zeniths
1. (astronomy) The point in the sky vertically above a given position or observer; the point in the celestial sphere opposite the nadir.
  Quotations
  The 12 day wee had the wind high and large ſo that in two dayes ſaile we made the Sunne our Zenith or verticall point […]
  1638, Sir Thomas Herbert, Some years travels into divers parts of Asia and Afrique
  In this 10th m. appeared that prodigious Comett the tayl whereof was like the blade of a double edged sword, and reached almost from the horizon to the zenith.
  1671–1693: Rev. Thomas Jolly, private notebook; printed in: 1895, Henry Fishwick (editor), The Note Book of the Rev. Thomas Jolly: A.D. 1671–1693. Extracts from the Church Books of Altham and Wymondhouses, 1649–1725. And an Account of the Jolly Family of Standish, Gorton, and Altham, page 44
  In the east a pillar of cloud reared from horizon to zenith, with a kind of arm outstretched like a threatening colossus.
  1938, Xavier Herbert, chapter XI, in Capricornia‎, New York: D. Appleton-Century, published 1943, page 180
2. (astronomy) The highest point in the sky reached by a celestial body.
  Quotations
  […] in the middle of the day, when the sun was in the zenith, the violence of the heat was too great to stir out […]
  1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], 3rd edition, London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], published 1719
  As far to the west as Monica could see, her world was a sea of fog, […] . Above it arched a cerulean sky; as the sun climbed to the zenith, […] , the fog gradually took on a bluish tinge.
  1920, Peter B. Kyne, chapter II, in The Understanding Heart
3. (by extension) Highest point or state; peak.
  Quotations
  I find my zenith doth depend upon / A most auspicious star.
  1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene ii]
  It was during those civil troubles […] this aspiring family reached the zenith.
  1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 13, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volumes (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans
  "There for a while I enjoyed myself in the zenith of glory and pleasure."
  1900, William Beckford, The History of the Caliph Vathek‎, page 173

Definition of "zenith"

zenith

noun

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations