α. 1500s–1700s sydereal, 1600s sidereall, 1600s sydereall, 1600s– sidereal, 1700s sydireal.
β. 1600s sideriall, 1600s syderial, 1600s syderiall, 1600s–1800s siderial.
siderealadj.
/sʌɪˈdɪərɪəl/, U.S. /saɪˈdɪriəl/ 1. Resembling, characteristic of, or reminiscent of a star or starlight; starlike; esp. lustrous, bright, shining; splendid, outstanding. Chiefly literary in later use.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > light > naturally occurring light > [adjective] > of or relating to starlight or bright as the stars
brightOE
starlighta1393
star-bright1483
sidereal1534
starry?1565
starlike1591
1534 R. Whittington tr. Cicero Thre Bks. Tullyes Offyces sig. a.7 If we desyre to come to the sydereal [L. sydereas] bright places where angels be.
1634 Bp. J. Hall Contempl. Hist. New Test. (STC 12640.5) 201 With what a blushing astonishment doth she behold his sydereall countenance cast upon her?
1649 Bp. J. Hall Humble Motion to Parl. 30 Provoking some sydereall and flaming soules to display themselves in their full..lustre.
1847 R. W. Emerson Poems 176 All he distils into sidereal wine.
1885 E. R. B. Lytton Glenaveril II. i. lvii. 224 The form of mine Ideal more ethereal, And more indefinite, appeared to be; In its deep gaze was a sad light sidereal, Solemn, and distant.
1928 F. Newman tr. J. Laforgue Six Moral Tales 244 With her sidereal diamonds cutting into her flesh.
1999 S. Rushdie Ground beneath her Feet (2000) i. 11 A genuine countertenor voice silences all arguments, its sidereal sweetness shaming our pettiness, like the music of the spheres.
2.
a. Of a period of time: determined or measured with reference to the apparent passage of the stars across the sky. Chiefly in the names of specific periods (see Compounds).
ΘΚΠ
the world > the universe > star > [adjective] > determined by
sidereal1612
the world > time > period > [adjective] > natural or sidereal
naturalc1395
sidereal1612
naturel1856
1612 A. Hopton Concordancy of Yeares xx. 63 The Astronomicall yeare is either Tropicall, or Sidereall.
1765 Philos. Trans. 1764 (Royal Soc.) 54 344 There are three different kinds of time used by astronomers, sidereal time, apparent solar time, and mean solar time.
1812 R. Woodhouse Elem. Treat. Astron. viii. 50 A clock regulated by the transit of fixed stars, or adapted to sidereal time.
1866 E. H. Bickersteth Yesterday, To-day, & For Ever xii. 384 Festivals that stand On the sidereal calends mark'd in light.
1956 P. O'Brian Golden Ocean vii. 122 There followed a long and creditably intelligent piece about sidereal time, lunar tables and astral navigation.
2009 P. Glennie & N. Thrift Shaping Day x. 388 They use all but identical methods to find sidereal time, and measure clocks' performance.
b. Of a timepiece: made to show sidereal time.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > instruments for measuring time > clock > [adjective] > of type of clock
sidereal1767
keyless1828
Waterbury1853
long-sleeved1897
sunburst2015
1767 Fame's Palladium 63 The Sidereal Clock..was set at each Place to the first star of Aries.
1812 R. Woodhouse Elem. Treat. Astron. Pref. An observation expressed by..the seconds of a sidereal clock.
1929 Rep. Proc. Empire Conf. Surv. Officers 1928 26 Each observing party of the Topographical Survey carries four sidereal watches in a special container.
1948 A. L. Rawlings Sci. Clocks & Watches (ed. 2) i. 14 The sidereal clock marks 361 seconds, while the solar clock marks 360; hence the ticks should sound together once in every six minutes.
2003 Past & Present 181 129 Dyson agreed..to fit his sidereal clock with escape wheel contacts.
3. Of or relating to the stars or a star.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the universe > star > [adjective]
starry1543
sideral1545
astral1605
siderean1613
stellary1623
sidereal1639
astrean1650
asteristic1652
stellar1656
sidereous1657
siderous1658
stellate1694
asteriala1708
1639 T. Phillips Bk. Genesis 61 in Bk. Lament. Hee passed through the wombe of the Virgin,..his body either being of a Sidereal..substance.
1651 H. More Enthusiasmus Triumphatus (1712) 32 That a Man has a sydereal body besides this terrestrial which is joined with the Stars.
1692 J. Salter Triumphs Jesus 24 Display your Glories ye Syderial States.
1739 H. Coventry Lett. Philemon to Hydaspes iii. 76 [A] most expressive, as well as permanent Symbol of the Sidereal Splendors.
1792 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 82 26 Among the changes that happen in the sidereal heavens we enumerate the loss of stars.
1834 T. Carlyle Sartor Resartus i. iii. 7/2 What thinks Bootes of them, as he leads his Hunting Dogs over the Zenith in their leash of sidereal fire?
1874 F. W. Farrar Life Christ I. iii. 29 That any strange sidereal phenomenon should be interpreted as the signal of a coming king, was in strict accordance with the belief of their age.
1924 G. E. Hale Depths of Universe i. 10 Herschel..endeavoured to determine the structure of the sidereal system.
1941 W. J. Cash Mind of South (1991) Introd. p. xlviii The distance from Charleston to Birmingham is in some respects measurable only in sidereal terms.
2007 A. Theroux Laura Warholic xvii. 241 Her ills filled sidereal space.
4. Concerned with stars as objects of study.
ΚΠ
1646 J. Howell Lustra Ludovici 15 Sydereal observations,..though they be at best, but conjecturall, yet are they not altogether to be contemn'd.
1761 J. Ferguson Plain Method Determining Parallax of Venus 23 They are delighted with sidereal observations.
1827 J. F. W. Herschel Acct. Observ. Twenty-feet Reflecting Telescope 50 There is hardly any series of observations more important to the progress of sidereal astronomy.
1870 tr. F. A. Pouchet Universe (1871) 519 The nebulæ mark the limits of sidereal investigation.
1972 Amer. Libraries 3 265/3 Gleadow also gives historical and statistical arguments for the superiority of sidereal astrology.
2011 M. A. Ryan Kingdom Stargazers ii. 70 Sidereal study nevertheless occupied and maintained a problematic and liminal space through the medieval period.
5. Of the motion of a celestial object: seen or measured relative to the background of the fixed stars.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the universe > star > [adjective] > relative to
sidereal1686
1686 J. Goad Astro-meteorologica iii. iii. 443 Does the God of Nature, in a Sydereal Revolution of Twenty Years produce nothing?
1815 J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art I. 554 Its annual sidereal revolution is calculated by Laplace, to be performed in 1681 days, 17 hours, 57 seconds.
2013 Sky at Night Apr. 92/2 When the power switch is turned on, it will track quite happily at sidereal rate with no controller attached.
Compounds
sidereal day n. Astronomy (originally) the time between successive passes of the sun past the same point in the fixed stars; (in later use) the time between successive passes of the vernal equinox across the same celestial meridian; the time it takes for the earth to make one rotation relative to this equinox.The sidereal day is about four minutes shorter than the solar day, having a length of 23h 56m 4.1s.
ΚΠ
a1678 J. Newton Cosmographia (1679) 374 The Æquinoctial day being 24 hours, the sydereal day is 24 hours, 00′. 00″. 00‴. 32iv. 51. 15. 9. 14 24.
1807 T. Young Course Lect. Nat. Philos. I. xlviii. 597 He supposed the earth to remain at rest in the centre, the stars to revolve round it, together with the sun and all the planets, in a sidereal day.
2001 P. Moore 2002 Yearbk. Astron. i. 14 Because the sidereal day is shorter than the solar day, the stars appear to rise and set about four minutes earlier each day.
sidereal month n. Astronomy the time taken by the moon to make one revolution with respect to the celestial sphere.A sidereal month is about 27d 7h 43m.
ΚΠ
1833 Penny Mag. 6 July 254/1 The common month or synodical month is the sidereal month added to the time during which the moon can overtake the sun. This adds more than two days to the sidereal month.
1868 J. N. Lockyer Elem. Lessons Astron. §434 The sidereal month is the interval between two successive conjunctions of the moon with the same fixed star.
1994 H. Karttunen et al. Fund. Astron. (ed. 2) viii. 162 Because the line of nodes is rotating, the nodical month is 3 hours shorter than the sidereal month.
sidereal period n. Astronomy the period between two successive passes of a celestial object past the same point in the celestial sphere (the fixed stars), as seen from the earth; (equivalently) the time taken by an orbiting object to make one revolution around its primary, as observed relative to the celestial sphere.The sidereal period of the moon is a sidereal month (the earth being its primary); that of the earth is a sidereal year (the sun being its primary).
ΚΠ
1768 Philos. Trans. 1767 (Royal Soc.) 57 399 If the earth stood still, the spots would be hid only 13d. 23h. 10′, and their whole sidereal period being 25d. 5h. they would be visible 11d. 5h. 50′.
1875 Good Words 16 238/1 This is the sidereal period of the moon's revolution; not the synodic period, as the time from new moon to new moon is called.
1970 Jrnl. Brit. Astron. Assoc. 80 184 For Venus the commensurabilities are as follows: 13 sidereal periods of Venus = 8 sidereal years − 0.94 day [etc.].
2009 M. Heley Everything Guide to 2012 vi. 71 The sidereal period of the moon is roughly twenty-seven days and the synodic is roughly twenty-nine days.
sidereal year n. Astronomy the interval between successive passes of the sun past the same point relative to the fixed stars; the time taken by the earth to orbit the sun once and reach the same position relative to the fixed stars.A sidereal year is about 365d 6h 9m 10s.
ΚΠ
1675 E. Sherburne in tr. M. Manilius Sphere 162 25579 Sidereal years, are equal to 25580 Equinoctial years.
1715 tr. D. Gregory Elements Astron. I. ii. §11. 242 The Astronomic [year] is also twofold,..namely, the Sydereal and Tropical. The Sydireal Year..is 365 Days, 6 Hours, and 10 Minutes nearly.
1950 Colloques Internat. du C.N.R.S. XXV. Constantes Fondamentales de l'Astronomie..129 The unit adopted should be the sidereal year at 1900.0.
2005 L. Holford-Strevens Hist. Time ii. 21 Owing to precession, the tropical year is somewhat shorter than the sidereal year.
Derivatives
siˈdereally adv.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the universe > star > [adverb]
astrally1671
sidereally1816
1816 G. S. Faber Origin Pagan Idolatry I. 34 That very goddess, whose peculiar symbol was a ship,..is yet asserted to be sidereally the moon.
1912 Living Age 24 Feb. 466/2 Free love, no matter how sidereally hinted at, will be terrestrial.
2004 F. Rochberg Heavenly Writing iv. 132 The zodiac and the year itself were defined sidereally, so that one year was the time in which the sun returned to the same position with respect to a fixed star.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2016; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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adj.1534- to come from the shoulder
- to come full circle
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- to come good
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