Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Nn: Nadir


n.
1. Astronomy A point on the celestial sphere directly below the observer, diametrically opposite the zenith.
2. The lowest point: the nadir of their fortunes.

[Middle English, from Medieval Latin, from Arabic nar (as-samt)opposite (the zenith), from naarato see, watch; see nr in Semitic roots.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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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