Meridian altitude

Related to Meridian altitude: meridian passage

an arc of the meridian intercepted between the south point on the horizon and any point on the meridian. See Meridian, 3.

See also: Altitude

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, published 1913 by G. & C. Merriam Co.

References in classic literature ?

The long and fruitless march which they had made under the direction of Abiram, the discovery of the body, and its subsequent interment, had so far consumed the day, that by the time their steps were retraced across the broad track of waste which lay between the grave of Asa and the rock, the sun had fallen far below his meridian altitude. The hill had gradually risen as they approached, like some tower emerging from the bosom of the sea, and when within a mile, the minuter objects that crowned its height came dimly into view.

View in context

The scales provide the tangent or cotangent of the meridian altitude. In effect, it also replaces a mural quadrant, but with a graduation different from no.

Ghazan Khan's astronomical innovations at Maragha observatory

p.105 I would think that the latitude was usually determined from the meridian altitude of the Sun (which has nothing to do with azimuth).