Zend-Avesta
(||Zend`-A*ves"ta) n. [Properly, the Avesta, or sacred text, and its zend, or interpretation,
in a more modern and intelligible language. W. D. Whitney.] The sacred writings of the ancient Persian
religion, attributed to Zoroaster, but chiefly of a later date.
Zendik
(||Zen"dik) n. [Ar. zandik.] An atheist or unbeliever; — name given in the East to those charged
with disbelief of any revealed religion, or accused of magical heresies.
Zenick
(Ze"nick) n. (Zoöl.) A South African burrowing mammal allied to the civets. It is grayish brown,
with yellowish transverse stripes on the back. Called also suricat.
Zenik
(Ze"nik) n. (Zoöl.) See Zenick.
Zenith
(Ze"nith) n. [OE. senyth, OF. cenith, F. zénith, Sp. zenit, cenit, abbrev. fr. Ar. samt-urras
way of the head, vertical place; samt way, path + al the + ras head. Cf. Azimuth.]
1. That point in the visible celestial hemisphere which is vertical to the spectator; the point of the heavens
directly overhead; — opposed to nadir.
From morn
To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve,
A summer's day; and with the setting sun
Dropped
from the zenith, like a falling star.
Milton. 2. hence, figuratively, the point of culmination; the greatest height; the height of success or prosperity.
I find my zenith doth depend upon
A most auspicious star.
Shak.
This dead of midnight is the noon of thought,
And wisdom mounts her zenith with the stars.
Mrs. Barbauld.
It was during those civil troubles . . . this aspiring family reached the zenith.
Macaulay. Zenith distance. (Astron.) See under Distance. — Zenith sector. (Astron.) See Sector, 3. —
Zenith telescope (Geodesy), a telescope specially designed for determining the latitude by means
of any two stars which pass the meridian about the same time, and at nearly equal distances from the
zenith, but on opposite sides of it. It turns both on a vertical and a horizontal axis, is provided with a
graduated vertical semicircle, and a level for setting it to a given zenith distance, and with a micrometer
for measuring the difference of the zenith distances of the two stars.
