equinoctial, a. and n.
(ɛk-, iːkwɪˈnɒkʃəl)
Forms: 4–7 equinoctiall, (4 equynoxial, 5 equinoccialle, 6 -ccyall, 6–8 æquinoctial(l, 7, 9 equinoxial(l, 6– equinoctial.
[ad. L. æquinoctiālis, f. æquinoctium equinox. Cf. Fr. équinoxial.]
A. adj.
1. Pertaining to a state of equal day and night. equinoctial line, equinoctial circle (in Milton equinoctial road), the celestial or terrestrial equator. Cf. B. 1 and 2. equinoctial point = equinox 2.
| c 1391 Chaucer Astrol. ii. §25 Tak his nethere elongacioun lengthing fro the same equinoxial lyne. c 1511 1st Eng. Bk. Amer. (Arb.) Introd. 29/2 So haue we sayled ouer y⊇ linie equinocciall. 1549 Compl. Scot. vi. (1872) 49 There is ane vthir circle of the spere, callit the circle equinoctial. 1551 Robinson tr. More's Utop. (Arb.) 31 For vnder the line equinoctiall..lyeth..great, and wyde desertes. 1656 tr. Hobbes' Elem. Philos. (1839) 428 The diurnal revolution is from the motion of the earth, by which the equinoctial circle is described about it. 1667 Milton P.L. x. 672 Som say the Sun Was bid turn Reines from th' Equinoctial Rode. 1726 tr. Gregory's Astron. I. ii. 305 To determine the Places of the Stars in respect of the Equinoctial and Solstitial Points. 1818 Jas. Mill Brit. India I. ii. ix. 420 The origin of the Indian zodiac did not coincide with the equinoxial point. 1837 Brewster Magnet. 238 The magnetic equator will meet the equinoctial line only in two points. |
2. Pertaining to the period or point of the equinox. equinoctial colure: see colure. † equinoctial day: a normal day of 12 hours. † equinoctial hour: an hour of normal length. equinoctial month: a month which includes one of the equinoxes. † equinoctial spring: the vernal equinox.
| 1570–87 Holinshed Scot. Chron. (1806) II. 58 After the equinoctiall spring. 1594 Blundevil Exerc. ii. (ed. 7) 116, Six houres, which is the one halfe of an Equinoctiall day. 1635 N. Carpenter Geog. Del. i. v. 104 The excesse of the greatest and longest day aboue the equinoctiall day. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. vi. vii. 309 Marcus Varro..exposeth his farme unto the equinoxiall ascent of the Sunne. 1775 Adair Amer. Ind. 77 The two Jewish months just mentioned, were æquinoctial. |
b. Happening at or near to the time of the equinox; said esp. of the ‘gales’ prevailing about the time of the autumnal equinox.
| 1792 Anecd. W. Pitt III. xliii. 151 At last will come your equinoctial disappointment. 1795 Ld. Lyndhurst Let. in Sir T. Martin Life 38 Many vessels have lost their anchors in this, I may call it, equinoctial gale. 1811 Wellington in Gurw. Disp. VIII. 269 Till the equinoctial rains have filled the Tagus. 1865 Livingstone Zambesi xix. 369 And the equinoctial gales made it impossible for us to cross to the eastern side. |
3. Of or pertaining to the equinoctial (see B. 1, 2); = equatorial. a. Pertaining to, or having reference to, the equator as a circle of the celestial or terrestrial sphere. equinoctial dial: see quot. 1751. b. Pertaining to the regions adjacent to the terrestrial equator.
| 1594 J. Davis Seaman's Secr. (1607) 3 Therefore those that trauail must either vse the Globe or an Equinoctiall diall. 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 637 As when farr off at Sea a Fleet descri'd Hangs in the Clouds, by æquinoctial Winds Close sailing from Bengala. 1684 T. Burnet Th. Earth 169 The polar parts sinking into the abyss, the middle or æquinoctial parts still subsisted. 1703 Moxon Mech. Exerc. 319 The Center of the Equinoctial Semi-circle. 1751 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Dial, Equinoctial Dial is that described on an equinoctial plane, or a plane representing that of the equinoctial. 1770 Goldsm. Des. Vill. 419 Where equinoctial fervours glow. 1816 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. (1843) I. 209 The warmer parts of equinoctial America. 1860 tr. Hartwig's Sea & Wond. i. 13 The equinoctial ocean. |
B. n.
1. The celestial equator: so called because, when the sun is on it, the nights and days are of equal length in all parts of the world.
| c 1386 Chaucer Nun's Pr. T. 36 By nature knew he ech ascencioun Of equinoxial. 1527 R. Thorne in Hakluyt Voy. (1589) 252 All other lands that are vnder and neere the Equinoctiall. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. II. iii. 70 He affirmeth that Biarmia..hath the pole for its Zenith and Equinoctiall for the Horizon. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1862) I. xvi. 92 At Tonquin..there is no tide at all, when the moon is near the equinoctial. 1833 Herschel Astron. i. 58 They term the equator of the heavens the equinoctial. 1854 Moseley Astron. ix. (ed. 4) 43 The distance of the star from the equinoctial..is called the Declination of the star. 1869 Dunkin Midn. Sky 133 The Ecliptic is inclined to the equinoctial at an angle of 23° 28{p}. |
2. The terrestrial equator. Now rare.
| 1584 Calendar St. Papers 103–4 Any parts between the Equinoctial and the North Pole. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 5 Nor is this weather rare about the æquinoctiall. 1657 Evelyn Mem. (1857) I. 336 Born in the Caraccas, 1000 miles south of the equinoctial. 1784 Burke Sp. agst. W. Hastings Wks. XIII. 155 As if, when you have crossed the equinoctial, all the virtues die. 1813 Eustace Classical Tour (1821) III. 130 Cities that lie between them and the equinoctial. |
b. transf. and fig. (humorously.)
| 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. ii. iii. 24 Passing the Equinoctial of Queubus. 1609 Dekker Gull's Horne-bk. 127 If he sit but one degree towards the equinoctial of the saltcellar. 1713 Birch Guardian No. 36 Started a conceit at the equinoctial, and pursued it through all the degrees of latitude. |
† 3. = equinox. Obs.
| 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 325 From the equinoccialle of Ver on to the equinoccialle of herveste. 1549 Compl. Scot. vi. (1872) 56 Quhen ther multipleis ane grit numir of sternis in the equinoctial of Libra..at that tyme ther occurris grit tempestis. 1665 Manley Grotius' Low C. Warres 413 There are scarce fifty dayes of ours, at the greatest time of heat, before the latter Equinoctial. |
| fig. 1618 Donne Serm. cxlv. V. 591 This day was a holy Equinoctial and made the day of the Jews and the day of the Gentiles equal. |
4. An equinoctial gale.
| 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1811) VIII. 260 The equinoctials fright me a little. 1880 Black White Wings II. 70 It is a shame he should be cheated out of his thunderstorm. But we have the equinoctials for him, at all events. |