longitude
Plurallongitudes
- 1A measure of how far east or west a place is from a line that runs through Greenwich, England.
Like a number that tells you how far to the left or right a place sits on a globe.
Each point on the map has its own longitude.
The navigator carefully worked out the ship's longitude before dawn.
Note
- 2An imaginary line running from the North Pole to the South Pole, crossing the equator at a right angle.
Like the lines on a peeled orange that run from the top to the bottom.
Every longitude meets the others at the North Pole and the South Pole.
On the globe, each longitude curved from the top down to the bottom.
Similarmeridian
Note
- 3The measured length of something, from one end to the other.
Like measuring how long a table is from one end to the other.
The carpenter measured the longitude of the wooden beam.
His shoulders are remarkably sloping, giving an appearance of great longitude to his neck.
1831, Francis Griffin, “Griffin's Remains”Here, longitude means length.Note
Practice
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Origin
From Latin longitudo meaning "length," from longus meaning "long." It came into English through Old French.