| 释义 |
▪ I. meridian, n.|məˈrɪdɪən|
Also 4–5 meridien, 5 merydien.
[From various elliptical uses of meridian a., chiefly adopted from OF. or med.L.
Cf. L. merīdiānum (sc. tempus), noon; merīdiānum, the south; med.L. meridiāna (OF. méridiane, earlier meriene; mod.F. méridienne), noon, midday rest, siesta; F. méridien = sense 4 below; méridienne (= ligne m.), a meridian line.]
†1. Mid-day, noon. Obs. exc. in humorously pedantic use.
a1380St. Augustine 1673 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1878) 90 Vppon a day aftur þe meridien Austin apeered to him þen. c1391Chaucer Astrol. ii. §44 Adde hit [to-geder], and þat is thy mene mote, for the laste meridian of the december, for the same ȝere wyche þat þou [hast] purposid. 1637Heywood Lond. Mirrour Wks. 1874 IV. 311 The very day that doth afford him light, Is Morning, the Meridian, Evening, Night. 1871G. Meredith H. Richmond xlii, If any thing fresh occurred between meridian and six o'clock, he should be glad, he said, to have word of it by messenger.
b. night's meridian: ‘the noon of night’, midnight. nonce-use.
1826Carrington Dartmoor 62 A fearful gloom, deep'ning and deep'ning, till 'Twas dark as night's meridian.
c. Hist. A mid-day rest or siesta. [tr. med.L. meridiana; cf. F. méridienne, OF. merien(n)e.]
1798–1801J. Milner Hist. Winchester II. 101 There was now a vacant space of an hour or an hour and an half, during part of which those [monks] who were fatigued were at liberty to take their repose,..which was called from the time of day when it was taken, The Meridian. 1820Scott Monast. xix [Abbot loq.], As we have..in the course of this our toilsome journey, lost our meridian, indulgence shall be given [etc.].
d. Sc. A mid-day dram. (See also E.D.D.)
1818Scott Hrt. Midl. iv, Plumdamas joined the other two gentlemen in drinking their meridian (a bumper-dram of brandy). 1825Chambers Trad. Edinb. II. 243 It was then [18th c.] the custom of all the shop-keepers in Edinburgh to drink what they called their meridian. This was a very moderate debauch,—consisting only in a glass of usquebaugh and a draught of small ale.
2. The point at which the sun or a star attains its highest altitude.
c1450Lydg. Secrees 347 Phebus..In merydien fervent as the glede. 1647Crashaw Poems 130 Sharp-sighted as the eagle's eye, that can Outstare the broad-beam'd day's meridian. a1667Cowley Ess., Greatness, There is in truth no Rising or Meridian of the Sun, but only in respect to several places. 1728Pope Dunc. iii. 195 note, The device, A Star rising to the Meridian, with this Motto, Ad Summa. 1843James Forest Days viii, The sun had declined about two hours and a half from the meridian.
b. fig. The point or period of highest development or perfection, after which decline sets in; culmination, full splendour.
1613Shakes. Hen. VIII, iii. ii. 224 And from that full Meridian of my Glory, I haste now to my Setting. 1638Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 2) 93 Yet in the meridian of his hopes [he] is dejected by valiant Rustang. c1645Howell Lett. (1655) III. ix. 17 Naturall human knowledg is not yet mounted to its Meridian, and highest point of elevation. 1673Temple United Prov. Wks. 1731 I. 67, I am of Opinion, That Trade has, for some Years ago, pass'd its Meridian, and begun sensibly to decay among them. 1700Dryden Fables Pref. *Bb, Ovid liv'd when the Roman Tongue was in its Meridian; Chaucer, in the Dawning of our Language. a1761Cawthorn Poems (1771) 61 My merit in its full meridian shone. a1859Macaulay Hist. Eng. xxiii. (1861) V. 67 This was the moment at which the fortunes of Montague reached the meridian. The decline was close at hand. 1893G. Hill Hist. Eng. Dress II, 268 Dress was in its meridian of ugliness.
c. The middle period of a man's life, when his powers are at the full.
c1645Howell Lett. i. vi. lx. (1655) 307 You seem to marvell I do not marry all this while, considering that I am past the Meridian of my age. 1703E. Ward Lond. Spy xvii. (1706) 406 As for her Age, I believe she was near upon the Meridian. 1795Mason Ch. Mus. ii. 133 When Purcel was in the meridian of his short life. 1864H. Ainsworth John Law Prol. iii. (1881) 19 Though long past his meridian, and derided as an antiquated beau by the fops of the day. 1873Hamerton Intell. Life iv. ii. (1875) 143 Any person who has passed the meridian of life.
†3. The south. Obs. [So L. meridianum.]
1430–40Lydg. Bochas vi. i. (1494) t ij b, Nowe in the west, nowe in the oryent, To sech stories north and meredien Of worthy princes that here to fore haue ben. 1432–50tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 47 Asia..whiche goenge from the meridien or sowthe by the este vn to the northe, is compassede on euery syde with the occean. Ibid. VI. 41 Machomete made an ydole..havynge the face of hit towarde the meridien. 1601Holland Pliny I. 34 With vs the stars about the North Pole neuer go downe, and those contrariwise about the Meridian neuer rise. Ibid. 48 From the Meridian or South-point to the North.
4. [Ellipt. for meridian circle or line.]
a. Astr. (More explicitly celestial m.) The great circle (of the celestial sphere) which passes through the celestial poles and the zenith of any place on the earth's surface.
b. (More explicitly terrestrial m.) The great circle (of the earth) which lies in the plane of the celestial meridian of a place, and which passes through the place and the poles; also often applied to that half of this circle that extends from pole to pole through the place.
So named because the sun crosses it at noon. A terrestrial globe, or a map of the earth or part of it, has usually a number of meridians drawn upon it at convenient distances, marked with figures indicating their respective longitude or angular distance on a parallel from the first meridian, i.e. the meridian (in British maps that of Greenwich) conventionally determined to be of longitude 0°.
c1391Chaucer Astrol. ii. §39 And [yf] so be þat two townes haue illike Meridian, or on Meridian, than is the distance of hem bothe ylike fer fro the Est. 1549Compl. Scot. vi. 51 Quhen the sune rysis at our est orizon, than it ascendis quhil it cum til our meridian. 1555Eden Decades 243 And commaunded a line or meridian to bee drawen Northe and south. 1594Blundevil Exerc. iv. xviii. (1636) 461 Whereas the Terrestriall Globe is traced with 12 Meridians,..The Celestiall Globe is only traced with 6 Meridians. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. ii. 93 You must wait..till the Sun is upon the Meridian. 1678Hobbes Decam. viii. 101 It will turn it self till it lye in a Meridian, that is to say, with one and the same Line still North and South. 1698J. Keill Exam. Th. Earth (1734) 231 All those who live under the same Meridian have twelve of the Clock at the same time. 1715tr. Gregory's Astron. I. 211 Any such Secondary Circle drawn thro' any Place upon the Earth, is called the Meridian of that Place. Ibid. 212 They feigned therefore a first Meridian passing thro' the most Western Place of the Earth, that was then known. 1839Penny Cycl. XV. 110/1 The terrestrial meridian is the section of the earth made by the plane of the celestial meridian. 1841Elphinstone Hist. Ind. II. 177 These two rájas soon reduced the Mussulman frontier to the Kishna on the south, and the meridian of Heiderábád on the east.
c. transf. (a) Geom. Occasionally applied to any great circle of a sphere that passes through the poles, or to a line, on a surface of revolution, that is in a plane with its axis. (b) magnetic meridian: the great circle of the earth that passes through any point on its surface and the magnetic poles.
1704J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, Meridian Magnetical, is a Great Circle passing through or by the Magnetical Poles. a1721J. Keill Maupertuis' Diss. (1734) 47 The Meridians of the Spheroids are continually Algebraic Curves. 1832Nat. Philos. II. Magnet. iii. 23 (Usef. Knowl. Soc.), The magnetic meridian. 1837Brewster Magnet. 11 He..made numerous experiments with bars of iron and steel placed in the magnetic meridian.
d. meridian of a globe or brass meridian: a graduated ring (sometimes a semicircle only) of brass in which an artificial globe is suspended and revolves concentrically.
1633G. Herbert Temple, Size viii, An earthly globe, On whose meridian was engraven, These seas are tears, and heav'n the haven. 1727–51Chambers Cycl. s.v. Globe, The globe itself thus finished, they hang it in a brass meridian.
e. attrib. in meridian circle (see also meridian a. 3), an astronomical instrument consisting of a telescope carrying a large graduated circle, by which the right ascension and declination of a star may be determined; a transit-circle; meridian-mark, a mark fixed at some distance due north or south of an astronomical instrument, by pointing at which the instrument is set in the meridian.
1849Herschel Outl. Astron. §190. 114 Thus also a meridian line may be drawn and a meridian mark erected.
5. transf. and fig. A locality or situation, considered as separate and distinct from others, and as having its own particular character; the special character or circumstances by which one place, person, set of persons, etc. is distinguished from others. Chiefly in figurative uses of astronomical phrases such as calculated to or for the meridian of = ‘suited to the tastes, habits, capacities, etc., of’.
1589R. Harvey Pl. Perc. Ded. 4. I will present you at the law day for a ryot, though I be neither side man for this Meridian, nor Warden. 1621Burton Anat. Mel. ii. ii. i. i. (1651) 231 Which howsoever I treat of, as proper to the Meridian of Melancholy. 1625B. Jonson Staple of N., Prol. Court, A Worke..fitted for your Maiesties disport, And writ to the Meridian of your Court. 1647Clarendon Hist. Reb. vii. §73 He was, at his suit, brought to the House of Commons' bar; where..with such flattery as was most exactly calculated to that meridian [etc.]. a1677Hale Prim. Orig. Man. i. i. 7 All other knowledge meerly or principally serves the concerns of this Life, and is fitted to the meridian thereof. 1712Arbuthnot John Bull iii. Publisher's Pref., Though they had been calculated by him only for the meridian of Grub-street, yet they were taken notice of by the better sort. a1718Penn Tracts Wks. 1726 I. 471 His words of the Trinity are modest, neither highly Athanasian, nor yet Socinian,..but calculated to both Meridians. 1748Smollett Rod Rand. xxviii. (1804) 186 This suggestion..had the desired effect upon the captain, being exactly calculated for the meridian of his intellects. 1751Earl of Orrery Remarks Swift (1752) 141 As this pamphlet was written for the meridian of Ireland. 1816Sporting Mag. XLVIII. 34 This..could not fail in exciting ludicrous ideas, in the minds of the illiterate vulgar, for whose meridian it was calculated. 1835W. Irving Newstead Abbey Crayon Misc. (1863) 306 A course of anecdotes..such as suited the meridian of the..servants' hall.
Add: [c indigo][4.] f.[/c] Acupuncture. Any of the pathways in the body along which energy is said to flow, esp. each of a set of twelve associated with specific organs.
1959D. Lawson-Wood Chinese Syst. Healing 33 There is general agreement on the numbering, order and naming of the twelve lines of flow of Vital-Force called by Stiefvater ‘Meridiane’, by Soulie de Morant ‘Meridiens’, and by de la Fuÿe ‘Kings’ or ‘Tsings’... After some discussion with Leslie O. Korth, D.O., M.R.O., one of the very few practising acupuncturists in this country, it was decided to use the term ‘Meridian’ rather than to use the Chinese word. 1964F. Mann Meridians of Acupuncture i. 19 Each of the twelve main meridians has a Luo point and an associated Luo meridian. 1973Lancet 14 July 58/1 In modern acupuncture the meridians are considered to be no more real than are the geographic meridians on the surface of the earth. 1976National Observer (U.S.) 18 Dec. 1/2 The ancient chinese practice of inserting needles at points along the body's 12 ‘meridians’ to treat disease and reduce pain. 1988Here's Health May 14/4 Joannah's treatment involved stimulating the liver meridian in order to correct the blood disturbance.
▪ II. meridian, a.|məˈrɪdɪən|
[a. OF. meridien (mod.F. méridien), or ad. L. merīdiānus, f. merīdiēs mid-day, noon, dissimilated form of older medīdiēs (Varro), f. medii-, medius middle + diēs day.]
1. Of or pertaining to mid-day or noon. Now rare (humorously pedantic) exc. as in 2.
1432–50tr. Higden (Rolls) V. 373 The kynge Albinnus beynge in slepe in his meridien tyme. c1450Lydg. & Burgh Secrees 1601 Moche sleep wyl kepe the in hih Estat,..Merydien Reste, mylk whight and Argentyne. 16022nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. iii. iii, Hang me if he hath any more mathematikes then wil..tell the meridian howre by rumbling of his panch. 1620Venner Via Recta viii. 191 The morning and euening cold, and meridian heate, is cheifely to be auoyded. 1678R. L'Estrange Seneca's Mor. (1702) 349 The Romans had their Morning, and their Meridian Spectacles. 1788Gibbon Decl. & F. xlviii. (1869) III. 27 At the meridian hour he withdrew to his chamber. 1806–7J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life (1826) iv. xliii, The meridian midnight of a thick London fog. 1862Merivale Rom. Emp. xli. (1871) V. 80 Every citizen..plunged into the dark recess of his sleeping chamber for the enjoyment of his meridian slumber. 1881Trollope Dr. Wortle's School v. ii, The writer has perhaps learned to regard two glasses of meridian wine as but a moderate amount of sustentation.
†b. meridian devil: transl. of Vulg. dæmonium meridianum Ps. xc[i], for which the Eng. Bible has ‘the destruction that wasteth at noonday’.
a1550Image Ipoc. ii in Skelton's Wks. (1843) II. 429 Thou arte a wicked sprite,..A beestely bogorian, And devill meridian. 1550Bale Eng. Votaries ii. 118 O deuyls merydyane, as the Prophet doth call yow.
c. meridian ring, a ring so marked within the hoop as to serve the purpose of a sun-dial.
1867N. & Q. 3rd Ser. XI. 381 Some years since I became possessed of a brass ring, about an inch and a half in diameter, which I was told was a meridian ring, and that at some period they were used as a means of ascertaining the time. 1877W. Jones Finger-ring 451 Among the singular uses to which rings have been applied, I may mention what were called ‘meridian’.
2. esp. Pertaining to the station, aspect, or power of the sun at mid-day.
c1391Chaucer Astrol. ii. §39 Whan that the sonne..cometh to his verrey meridian place, than is hit verrey Midday. 1500–20Dunbar Poems lxxxv. 70 Aue Maria, gratia plena! Haile, sterne meridiane! 1635Quarles Embl. ii. x. (1718) 101 Thou may'st as well expect meridian light From shades of black-mouth'd night. 1664H. More Myst. Iniq. xvii. 61 Do naturally vanish in this Meridian and Vertical Sun-shine of the Gospel. 1762–9Falconer Shipwr. ii. 141 The sun his high meridian throne Had left. 1781Crabbe Library 9 Care veils in clouds the sun's meridian beam. 1840Barham Ingol. Leg., Leech of Folkestone, The sun rode high in the heavens, and its meridian blaze was powerfully felt. 1898R. Bridges Growth of Love Sonn. xxii, Strutting on hot meridian banks.
b. fig. Pertaining to or characteristic of the period of greatest elevation or splendour (of a person, state, institution, etc.).
1672(title) A Prophecie lately transcribed..of Doctor Barnaby Googe,..predicting the rising, meridian, and falling condition of the States of the United Provinces. 1751Earl of Orrery Remarks Swift (1752) 69 The poem itself is dated in the year 1713, when Swift was in his meridian altitude. 1796Morse Amer. Geog. II. 275 It [Dantzic] seems to be somewhat past its meridian glory. 1818Hazlitt Eng. Poets iii. (1870) 59 Those arts, which depend on individual genius,..have always leaped at once..from the first rude dawn of invention to their meridian height and dazzling lustre. 1903Morley Gladstone I. 25, ‘I was bred’, said Mr. Gladstone when risen to meridian splendour, ‘under the shadow of the great name of Canning’.
†c. Of supreme excellence, consummate; also in bad sense. Obs.
1662Glanvill Lux Orient. Pref. (1682) 3 They lay stress on few matters of opinion, but such as are..very meridian truths. 1728Young Love Fame vi. 47 But with a modern fair, meridian merit Is a fierce thing, they call a nymph of spirit. a1734North Exam. (1740) 186 Was it not strange Usage of a Queen Consort, when such an Effrontery, out of the Mouth of a Meridian Villain, in Public..should be let pass without so much as a Reprehension.
3. Pertaining to a meridian. Chiefly in collocations orig. referable to sense 2. meridian circle = meridian n. 4. meridian line: in early use = meridian n. 4; now usually, a line (on a map, etc.) representing a meridian; also, a line traced on the earth's surface, indicating the course of a portion of a meridian as ascertained by astronomical observations. meridian altitude: the angular distance between the horizon and the sun at noon, or (in later use) any heavenly body when crossing the meridian.[Meridian circle represents L. circulus meridianus, transl. of Gr. κύκλος µεσηµβρινός (f. µεσηµβρία mid-day).] c1391Chaucer Astrol. Prol., Tables..for to fynde the altitude Meridian. Ibid. ii. §39 The arch meridian þat is contiened or intercept by-twixe the cenyth and the equinoxial. 1549Compl. Scot. vi. 47 It sal declair the eleuatione of the polis, and the lynis parallelis, and the meridian circlis. 1559W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 138 If there be no Angle of sighte, it hathe the same Longitude and meridiane Line, and is plaine North or South from you. 1668Moxon Mech. Dyall. 11 If the Sun shine just at Noon, hold up a Plumb-line so as the shaddow of it may fall upon your Plane, and that shaddow shall be a Meridian Line. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. iv. vii. 168 The true Meridian-distance between Lundy and Barbadoes. Ibid. vi. iii. 128 The Meridian-Altitude of an unknown Star. 1719De Foe Crusoe ii. (Globe) 487, I shall not pester my Account..with..Latitudes, Meridian-Distances,..and the like. 1833Herschel Treat. Astron. (1839) 56 The plane of the meridian is the plane of this circle, and its intersection with the sensible horizon of the spectator is called a meridian line. 1882Floyer Unexpl. Baluchistan 216 After getting a meridian altitude at noon, we left..for..Jangdā.
b. Passing along a meridian. nonce-use.
1658Sir T. Browne Hydriot. 1st Epist. Ded., These may seem to have wandered farre, who in a direct and Meridian Travell, have but a few miles of known Earth between your selfe and the Pole.
4. Southern, meridional. rare.
1432–50tr. Higden (Rolls) II. 253 Therefore peple descendenge from Sem..hade in possession the londe meridien [L. terram meridianam]. 1819Byron Stanzas to the Po, A stranger..Born far beyond the mountains, but his blood Is all meridian, as if never fann'd By the black wind that chills the polar flood.
5. Geol. [fig. use of sense 1: cf. the second quot.] Applied by Professor Rogers to the middle stage of the American palæozoic period, and to the formations representing that stage.
1858H. D. Rogers Geol. Pennsylv. I. 351 Meridian Strata in Perry County... The Meridian sandstone..is never more than 20 feet thick. Ibid. II. ii. 749 These periods, applicable only to the American Palæozoic day, are the Primal, Aural,..Pre-Meridian, Meridian, Post-Meridian, Cadent, Vergent [etc.]. |