culminant (kul minant)

[ Culminating; reaching the highest point. I did spy Sun, moon, and stars, by th' painter's art appear, At once all culm'nant in one hemisphere. A. Brome, To his Mistre . culminate (kul'mi-nāt), v. i.; pret. and pp. cul minated, ppr. culminating. [ML. culm in at us, pp. of culm in are (> It. culm in are = Sp. Pg. cul minar = F. culminer, > D. kulmineren = G. cul miniren = Dan. kulminere ), It. culmine = Sp. culmen = Pg. culme ), the highest point, older form columen, > ult. E. column, q. v.] 1. To come to or be on the meridian; be in the highest point of altitude, as a star, or, according to the usage of astronomers, reach either the highest or the lowest altitude. IMG:content-1784.png:[blocks in formation] The mountains forming this cape culminate in a grand conical peak. B. Taylor , Lands of the Saracen, p. 189. Both records (the biblical and the scientific] give us a grand proce ion of dynasties of life, beginning from the lower forms and culminating in man. Dawson, Nature and the Bible, p. 119.