1350–1400; Middle English cenith < Medieval Latin < Old Spanish zenit, scribal error for zemt < Arabic samt road, incorrectly read as senit by medieval scribes (compare Arabic samt ar-rās road above (over) one's head, the opposite of nadir)
2. apex, summit.
1, 2. nadir.
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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| an architectural support for a column, statue or vase |
| to express in precise form; to devise or develop, as a method to express in a formula |
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zenith
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zenith  (zē'nĭth) Pronunciation Key
The point on the celestial sphere that is directly above the observer (90 degrees above the celestial horizon). Compare nadir. |
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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zenith
point on the celestial sphere directly above an observer on the Earth. The point 180 opposite the zenith, directly underfoot, is the nadir. Astronomical zenith is defined by gravity; i.e., by sighting up a plumb line. If the line were not deflected by such local irregularities in the Earth's mass as mountains, it would point to the geographic zenith. Because the Earth rotates and is not a perfect sphere, the geocentric zenith is slightly different from the geographic zenith except at the Equator and the poles. Geocentric zenith is the intersection with the celestial sphere of a straight line drawn through the observer's position from the geometric centre of the Earth
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