zenith

noun

Etymology: From Middle English cenyth, from Medieval Latin cenit, from Arabic سَمْت (samt, “direction, path”), from the fuller form سَمْت اَلرَّأْس (samt ar-raʔs, “direction of the head”). The -ni- for -m- is sometimes thought to be due to a misreading of the three strokes, which is plausible, though it could be a mere phonetic approximation.

1. The point in the sky vertically above a given position or observer; the point in the celestial sphere opposite the nadir.

   “The 12 day wee had the wind high and large ſo that in two dayes ſaile we made the Sunne our Zenith or verticall point[…]”

   “In this 10th m. appeared that prodigious Comett the tayl whereof was like the blade of a double edged sword, and reached almost from the horizon to the zenith.”

2. The highest point in the sky reached by a celestial body.

   “[…] in the middle of the day, when the sun was in the zenith, the violence of the heat was too great to stir out […]”

   “As far to the west as Monica could see, her world was a sea of fog, […]. Above it arched a cerulean sky; as the sun climbed to the zenith, […], the fog gradually took on a bluish tinge.”

3. Highest point or state; peak.

   “Winning the continental championship was the zenith of my career.”

   “I find my zenith doth depend upon / A most auspicious star.”