[n. of action from CULMINATE v.; cf. F. culmination.]
1. The attainment by a heavenly body of its greatest altitude; the act of reaching the meridian.
Lower or upper culmination: the attainment of least or greatest altitude on any day.
1633. H. Gellibrand, in T. James, Voy., R iij. At the instant of the Moones Culmination or Mediation of Heauen.
1788. Smeaton, in Phil. Trans., LXXIX. 2. The ready adjustment of its index to answer the culmination of any of the heavenly bodies.
1856. Kane, Arct. Expl., I. viii. 79. The sun’s lower culmination, if such a term can be applied to his midnight depression.
2. fig. The attainment of the highest point, or state of being at the height; concr. that in which anything culminates, the crown or consummation.
1657. Farindon, Serm., xix. 429 (T.). We … wonder how that which in its putting forth was a flowre, should in its growth and culmination become a thistle.
1844. Emerson, Lect. Yng. Amer., Wks. (Bohn), II. 296. The uprise and culmination of the new … power of Commerce.
1865. Lecky, Ration., I. 277. This fresco may be regarded as the culmination of the movement.
