equinox
/ˈɛkwəˌnɑks/
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.02 in modern English
Meaning
noun
One of two times in the year (one in March and the other in September) when the length of the day and the night are equal, which occurs when the sun is directly overhead at the equator; this marks the beginning of spring in one hemisphere and autumn in the other.
noun
The circumstance of a twenty-four hour time period having the day and night of equal length.
noun
One of the two points in space where the apparent path of the Sun intersects with the equatorial plane of the Earth.
noun
A gale (“very strong wind”) once thought to occur more frequently around the time of an equinox (sense 1), now known to be a misconception; an equinoctial gale.
Obsolete
noun
A celestial equator (“great circle on the celestial sphere, coincident with the plane of the Earth's equator (the equatorial plane)”); also, the Earth's equator.
Obsolete
Example Sentences
- "[T]he Months of March and September, the tvvo Æquinoxes of Our year, are the moſt vvindy and tempeſtuous, the moſt unſettled and unequable of Seaſons in moſt Countries of the VVorld."
- "The four grand and ſolemn Bardic days are, of ancient uſage, the tvvo equinoxes, and the tvvo ſolſtices; the nevv and full moons are alſo, ſubordinately, ſolemn Bardic days: […]"
- "[H]e [Milton] believed, his poetic vein only flowed from the autumnal to the vernal equinox; and, in his essay on Education, he doubts whether, in the fine days of spring, any study can be accomplished by young men."
- "Live long, nor feel in head or chest / Our changeful equinoxes, / Till mellow Death, like some late guest, / Shall call thee from the boxes."
- "21. Report the experiments, if conveniently they may, at both the solstices and equinoctes. / 22. Observe accurately the time of the sun’s rising on the top of the hill and below, and note the difference."
- "For [Julius] Cæsar says, that on the night of the fourth day after his landing there was a full moon. He had before mentioned that the summer was far spent, and the æquinox not come, hence, the full moon must have been either in July or August."
Etymology
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: equinox, equinoce, ēquinoxium, aequinoctium, *nókʷts
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈɛkwəˌnɑks/
- British English: /ˈɛkwɪnɒks/
Usage
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Astronomy.