Tables . . . to find the altitude meridian.
--Chaucer.
2. Pertaining to the highest point or culmination; as,
meridian splendor.
2. Hence: The highest point, as of success, prosperity, or
the like; culmination.
I have touched the highest point of all my
greatness, And from that full meridian of my glory I
haste now to my setting. --Shak.
3. (Astron.) A great circle of the sphere passing through the
poles of the heavens and the zenith of a given place. It
is crossed by the sun at midday.
4. (Geog.) A great circle on the surface of the earth,
passing through the poles and any given place; also, the
half of such a circle included between the poles.
Note: The planes of the geographical and astronomical
meridians coincide. Meridians, on a map or globe, are
lines drawn at certain intervals due north and south,
or in the direction of the poles.
{Calculated for}, or {fitted to}, or {adapted to}, {the
meridian of}, suited to the local circumstances,
capabilities, or special requirements of.
All other knowledge merely serves the concerns of
this life, and is fitted to the meridian thereof.
--Sir M. Hale.
{First meridian}, the meridian from which longitudes are
reckoned. The meridian of Greenwich is the one commonly
employed in calculations of longitude by geographers, and
in actual practice, although in various countries other
and different meridians, chiefly those which pass through
the capitals of the countries, are occasionally used; as,
in France, the meridian of Paris; in the United States,
the meridian of Washington, etc.
{Guide meridian} (Public Land Survey), a line, marked by
monuments, running North and South through a section of
country between other more carefully established meridians
called principal meridians, used for reference in
surveying. [U.S.]
{Magnetic meridian}, a great circle, passing through the
zenith and coinciding in direction with the magnetic
needle, or a line on the earth's surface having the same
direction.
{Meridian circle} (Astron.), an instrument consisting of a
telescope attached to a large graduated circle and so
mounted that the telescope revolves like the transit
instrument in a meridian plane. By it the right ascension
and the declination of a star may be measured in a single
observation.
{Meridian instrument} (Astron.), any astronomical instrument
having a telescope that rotates in a meridian plane.
{Meridian of a globe}, or {Brass meridian}, a graduated
circular ring of brass, in which the artificial globe is
suspended and revolves.