ALTITUDE • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Altitude

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/ˈæltətˌud/ Listen

noun

Altitude n.

1.

Space extended upward; height; the perpendicular elevation of an object above its foundation, above the ground, or above a given level, or of one object above another; as, the altitude of a mountain, or of a bird above the top of a tree.

2.

(Astron.) The elevation of a point, or star, or other celestial object, above the horizon, measured by the arc of a vertical circle intercepted between such point and the horizon. It is either true or apparent; true when measured from the rational or real horizon, apparent when from the sensible or apparent horizon.

3.

(Geom.) The perpendicular distance from the base of a figure to the summit, or to the side parallel to the base; as, the altitude of a triangle, pyramid, parallelogram, frustum, etc.

4.

Height of degree; highest point or degree. "He is (proud) even to the altitude of his virtue."

5.

Height of rank or excellence; superiority.

6.

pl. Elevation of spirits; heroics; haughty airs. (Colloq.) "The man of law began to get into his altitude."

Meridian altitude, an arc of the meridian intercepted between the south point on the horizon and any point on the meridian. See Meridian, 3.

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Etymology of 'Altitude'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Altitude" Quotes from Famous Books

... mid-July, and even at an altitude of four thousand feet the sun could scorch at noonday. The lonely man sat at his outlook, gazing down the valley. There was a faint haze abroad, a thickening of the air so apparently slight, and in itself so imperceptible, that he would not have noticed it but for the fact that it blotted out many ...

— Despair's Last Journey • David Christie Murray

... former journey I had traversed countries of extreme fertility in Central Africa, with a healthy climate favourable for the settlement of Europeans, at a mean altitude of 4,000 feet above the sea level. This large and almost boundless extent of country was well peopled by a race who only required the protection of a strong but paternal government to become of considerable importance, ...

— Ismailia • Samuel W. Baker

... the north, and trade-wind weather. Morning, a few rain-squalls, clearing, but with passing clouds, as the sun gained altitude. Afternoon heavy, overcast sky, with half a gale of wind. At 2.50 P.M. descried a sail on the starboard-quarter, bearing about S.E. Got up steam and gave chase, and at 5 P.M. came up with her. Fired a blank cartridge and spoke a Prussian ship, which I caused to heave-to for ...

— The Cruise of the Alabama and the Sumter • Raphael Semmes

... varies with altitude; cold, cloudy, rainy/snowy winters; cool to warm, cloudy, humid summers with ...

— The 1997 CIA World Factbook • United States. Central Intelligence Agency.

... coastal plain irregularly back to the mountains, and is thought to be much narrower on the eastern coast than on the western — in fact, it may be quite absent on the eastern. It is the remains of a tilted plain sloping seaward from an altitude of about 1,000 feet to one of, say, 100 feet, and its hilly nature is due to erosion. These hills are generally covered only with grasses; the sheltered moister places often produce rank growths of tall, coarse cogon ...

— The Bontoc Igorot • Albert Ernest Jenks

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