nadir (nader)

[ The two theories differed as widely as the zenith from the nadir in their main principles. Hawthorne , Blithe dale Romance, vii. Hence-2. The lowest point; the point of extreme depre ion. The reign of William the Third, as Mr. Hallam happily says, was the Nadir of the national prosperity. Macaulay , Hallam's Const. Hist. Nadir of the sun, in astron., the axis of the conical shadcast by the earth. Crabb. [Rare.] nadir-basin (na der-ba"sn), n. A ve el of mercury used for observing the nadir with a meridian-circle.