| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| azimuth |
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| SYLLABICATION: | az·i·muth |
| PRONUNCIATION: |   z  -mth |
| NOUN: | 1. 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°. 2. 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. 3. The lateral deviation of a projectile or bomb. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English azimut, from Old French, from Arabic as-sum t, pl. of as-samt, the way, compass bearing : al-, the + samt, way (from Latin s mita, path; see mei-1 in Appendix I). | | OTHER FORMS: | az i·muthal (-m thl) —ADJECTIVE
azi·muthal·ly —ADVERB
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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