quarter of meridian
- noun
- Archaic
:
cuarto de meridiano
- The quarter of meridian provided a basis for the metric system's definition of the meter.
Examples
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The meter was originally defined as a fraction of the quarter of meridian traced on the Earth's surface.
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A quarter of meridian equals 10,000 kilometers.
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Scientists once measured distances by referencing the quarter of meridian standard.
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The distance between the two cities is about one quarter of meridian.
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The quarter of meridian was historically used to define geographic distances more accurately.
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In early navigation, sailors relied on the quarter of meridian to determine their position at sea.
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One quarter of meridian is equivalent to 10,000 kilometers, providing a standard measurement for long distances.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is compositionally built from 'quarter' (= one fourth) and 'meridian' (a line of longitude), so a learner who knows those words can infer it means one fourth of a meridian — i.e. a length equal to a quarter of the Earth's meridian. While the exact historical value (10,000 km) is specific background knowledge, the basic meaning as a fractional unit of a meridian is directly derivable from the parts and thus predictable for learners.
Etymology
The term quarter of meridian comes from how early scientists measured the Earth. They used a meridian, an imagined line from the North Pole to the Equator, and took one quarter of that line as a standard. That's why the phrase became a name for a large 'unit of length' of about '10,000 kilometers' used to help define the meter.
