apogee, apogeum, apogaeum, apogeon, apogaon

[In Fr. apogée; Sp., Port., & Ital. apogeo. Apogeum and apogeum are properly the neut. of adj. apogœus, and apogeon and apogœon are Latinised from the Gr. ἀπόγαιον ( apogaion ), neut. of adj. ἀπόγαιος ( apogaios ), also ἀπόγειος (apogeios), and ἀπόγεος ( apogeos ) = from land, or the earth; ( Astron., in apogee see def.): ἀπό ( apo ) = from, and γάϊος ( gaios ) = on land; γαῖα (gaia) = land: from yῆ (ge) = land, also the earth.] 1. Astron. The point in the orbit of any planet at which it is the greatest distance from the earth. When a corresponding term was introduced by the ancients, they proceeded on the supposition that the earth was the centre of the solar system, and therefore measured from it. The sun, therefore, was at a certain time said to be in apogee. The term is still used, but in general it is more correctly stated, not that the sun is in apogee, but that the earth is in aphelion [APHELION]; in other words, measurement is made from the sun as the centre, not from the earth. The moon, again, being the satellite of the earth, is appropriately said to be at a certain time in apogee. The lunar apogee circulates in about nine and a half years. "It is yet not agreed in what time, precisely, the apogeum absolveth one degree."-Browne: Vulgar Errours. while on the other hand the sun is most remote (in apogee , or the earth in its aphelion)."Herschel: Astron ., § 368a. See also §§ 406 and 687. 2. Fig .: As high above one, or as far from a person or thing as it is po ible to be. "Thy sin is in his apogeon placed; And when it moveth next must needs descend." Fairfax .