Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The horizontal angular distance from a reference direction, usually the northern point of the horizon, to the point where a vertical circle through a celestial body intersects the horizon, usually measured clockwise. Sometimes the southern point is used as the reference direction, and the measurement is made clockwise through 360°.
  • noun The horizontal angle of the observer's bearing in surveying, measured clockwise from a referent direction, as from the north, or from a referent celestial body, usually Polaris.
  • noun The lateral deviation of a projectile or bomb.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In astronomy, an arc of the horizon intercepted between the meridian of a place and the vertical circle passing through the center of a celestial object. The azimuth and altitude of a star give its exact position in the sky.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The quadrant of an azimuth circle.
  • noun An arc of the horizon intercepted between the meridian of the place and a vertical circle passing through the center of any object
  • noun one of the great circles of the sphere intersecting each other in the zenith and nadir, and cutting the horizon at right angles.
  • noun a compass resembling the mariner's compass, but having the card divided into degrees instead of rhumbs, and having vertical sights; used for taking the magnetic azimuth of a heavenly body, in order to find, by comparison with the true azimuth, the variation of the needle.
  • noun a dial whose stile or gnomon is at right angles to the plane of the horizon.
  • noun an arc of the horizon, intercepted between the vertical circle passing through any object and the magnetic meridian. This is found by observing the object with an azimuth compass.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An arc of the horizon intercepted between the meridian of the place and a vertical circle passing through the center of any object; as, the azimuth of a star; the azimuth or bearing of a line surveying.
  • noun The quadrant of an azimuth circle.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the azimuth of a celestial body is the angle between the vertical plane containing it and the plane of the meridian

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English azimut, from Old French, from Arabic as-sumūt, pl. of as-samt, the way, compass bearing : al-, the + samt, way (from Latin sēmita, path; see mei- in Indo-European roots).]

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word azimuth.

Examples

  • That it has been hijacked by sub-culture radio pundits with no azimuth is now more than just a saying, it is a fact.

    Obama political arm goes on offense 2009

  • But just over the azimuth is the holy grail of mapping, where every imaginable form of location-based information is layered onto an aggregate construct that mirrors the whole world.

    MAKING THE ULTIMATE MAP 2007

  • This angle, called the azimuth of the pole star, varies with the latitude of the observer, as will appear from Fig 2, and hence its value must be computed for different latitudes, and the surveyor must know his

    Scientific American Supplement, No. 360, November 25, 1882 Various

  • It is some - times called the azimuth, bearing, or heading.

    Recently Uploaded Slideshows 2009

  • The angle, or direction, is called the azimuth, heading, or bearing, and is measured in degrees clockwise from geographic north.

    Recently Uploaded Slideshows 2009

  • We want to move forty-five arc minutes in the opposite direction we moved last time, in altitude, altitude being jargon for a telescope’s up and down motion, as opposed to azimuth, which is movement from side to side.

    A Grand and Bold Thing Ann Finkbeiner 2010

  • We want to move forty-five arc minutes in the opposite direction we moved last time, in altitude, altitude being jargon for a telescope’s up and down motion, as opposed to azimuth, which is movement from side to side.

    A Grand and Bold Thing Ann Finkbeiner 2010

  • We want to move forty-five arc minutes in the opposite direction we moved last time, in altitude, altitude being jargon for a telescope’s up and down motion, as opposed to azimuth, which is movement from side to side.

    A Grand and Bold Thing Ann Finkbeiner 2010

  • We want to move forty-five arc minutes in the opposite direction we moved last time, in altitude, altitude being jargon for a telescope’s up and down motion, as opposed to azimuth, which is movement from side to side.

    A Grand and Bold Thing Ann Finkbeiner 2010

  • Slow firing dormant ion-lights, we rotate counter-clockwise, along the azimuth, putting the Milky Way at our back, shaving seconds per meter off the tumble of our outbound trajectory.

    365 tomorrows » submission : A New Free Flash Fiction SciFi Story Every Day 2010

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • From "C. Musonius Rufus" by Guy Davenport

    January 19, 2010