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nadir

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Medical, Acronyms, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.01 sec.
nadir (nā`dər) [Arab.,=opposite], in astronomy, the point on the celestial sphere celestial sphere, imaginary sphere of infinite radius with the earth at its center. It is used for describing the positions and motions of stars and other objects.
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 directly opposite the zenith zenith, in astronomy, the point in the sky directly overhead; more precisely, it is the point at which the celestial sphere is intersected by an upward extension of a plumb line from the observer's location.
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, i.e., directly beneath the observer.
nadir
the point on the celestial sphere directly below an observer and diametrically opposite the zenith

nadir [′nā·dər]
(astronomy)
That point on the celestial sphere vertically below the observer, or 180° from the zenith.
(oceanography)
The point on the sea floor that lies directly below the sonar during a survey.


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When we halted our shadows still pointed toward nadir.
Here and there nebulous masses like large flakes of starry snow; and from the zenith to the nadir, an immense ring formed by an impalpable dust of stars, the "Milky Way," in the midst of which the sun ranks only as a star of the fourth magnitude.
In the most illustrious lives as in the most obscure, in animals as in secretary-generals, there is a zenith and there is a nadir, a period when the fur is magnificent, the fortune dazzling.
 
 
 
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