latitude

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The angular distance north or south of the earth's equator, measured in degrees along a meridian, as on a map or globe.
2. n. A region of the earth considered in relation to its distance from the equator: temperate latitudes.
3. n. Astronomy The angular distance of a celestial body north or south of the ecliptic.
4. n. Freedom from normal restraints, limitations, or regulations. See Synonyms at room.
5. n. A range of values or conditions, especially the range of exposures over which a photographic film yields usable images.
6. n. Extent; breadth.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. Extent from side to side, or distance sidewise from a given point or line; breadth; width.
2. n. Extent within limits of any kind; scope; range; comprehensiveness: as, to be allowed great latitude of motion or action; latitude of meaning or of application.
3. n. Hence Extent of deviation from a standard; freedom from rules or limits: as, latitude of conduct.
4. n. The elevation of the pole of the heavens at a station, or the angle at which the plane of the horizon is cut by the earth's axis; the total curvature or bending of a meridian between the equator and a station; the angle which the plumb-line at any place makes with the plumb-line at the equator in the same plane; on a map, the angular distance of a point on the earth's surface from the equator, measured on the meridian of the point: as, St. Paul's, London, is in lat. 51° 30' 48″ N.; Cape Horn is in lat. 55° 59' S. Latitude is determined by different methods, according as circumstances may require. At sea the instrument exclusively used is the quadrant or sextant, the latter being simply a more accurately constructed and therefore more expensive form of the instrument. With this the altitude of the sun is observed when on the meridian, and from this altitude, with the aid of the declination taken from the Nautical Almanac, with certain corrections for dip, refraction, etc., the latitude is obtained. The same method is used on land (with the aid of an artificial horizon in place of the natural) in cases where no great accuracy is required, as in ordinary geographical reconnaissances. More accurate results are secured by increasing the number of observations by the method of circummeridian altitudes, several observations being taken just before and just after noon (or, if a fixed star is observed, before and after its culmination), from which, with suitable corrections, a mean result is attained more accurate than that furnished by a single observation. A much higher degree of accuracy is reached by the use of the zenith-telescope, which is a portable instrument, but considerably less so than the sextant, which the observer holds in his hand. With this instrument the latitude is determined by measuring micrometrically the difference of the meridional zenith-distances of two stars near the zenith, one northand the other south of it. The zenith-telescope is used for latitude determinations by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey at the stations belonging to the primary triangulation. The most accurate method of determining the latitude in a fixed observatory is by observing, with the meridian circle, the altitude of a circumpolar star at its transits above and below the pole. This method is independent of the declination of the star, and not necessarily liable to great errors of refraction. Another method sometimes employed in fixed observatories is to observe the transit of a star with a transit-instrument in the prime vertical, the time of the transit being observed with the instrument pointing east, and again with the same instrument pointing west, whence the altitude of the pole may be deduced. There are other methods of determining the latitude, but they are much less important than those mentioned.
5. n. In astronomy, the angular distance of a star north or south of the ecliptic, measured on that secondary to the ecliptic which passes through the body. Secondaries to the ecliptic are called circles of celestial latitude, and parallels to the ecliptic are called parallels of celestial latitude. Latitude is geocentric or heliocentric according as the earth or the sun is taken as the center from which the angle is measured.
6. n. The quantity of the interval between two latitudes, either in the geographical or the astronomical sense: as, to sail through 30° of latitude.
7. n. A place or region as marked by parallels of latitude: as, to fish in high latitudes (that is, in places where the latitude is a high number); the orange will not ripen in this latitude (that is, it will not do so in any place on the same parallel of latitude as the place spoken of); you are out of your latitude (that is, literally or figuratively, you have committed an error of navigation, so that the latitude you have assigned to the ship's place is not the true one).

Wiktionary

1. n. geography, astronomy The angular distance north or south from a planet's equator, measured along the meridian of that particular point.
2. n. geography An imaginary line (in fact a circle) around a planet running parallel to the planet's equator.
3. n. The relative freedom from restrictions; scope to do something.
4. n. astronomy The angular distance of a heavenly body from the ecliptic.
5. n. photography The extent to which a light-sensitive material can be over- or underexposed and still achieve an acceptable result.
6. n. Extent or scope; e.g. breadth, width or amplitude.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. Extent from side to side, or distance sidewise from a given point or line; breadth; width.
2. n. Room; space; freedom from confinement or restraint; hence, looseness; laxity; independence.
3. n. Extent or breadth of signification, application, etc.; extent of deviation from a standard, as truth, style, etc.
4. n. Extent; size; amplitude; scope.
5. n. (Geog.) Distance north or south of the equator, measured on a meridian.
6. n. (Astron.) The angular distance of a heavenly body from the ecliptic.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. an imaginary line around the Earth parallel to the equator
2. n. scope for freedom of e.g. action or thought; freedom from restriction
3. n. the angular distance between an imaginary line around a heavenly body parallel to its equator and the equator itself
4. n. freedom from normal restraints in conduct