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o the period of daylight, distinguished from the night; -- opposed to Ant: nocturnal; as, diurnal heat; diurnal hours.

A journalist. [Obs.] Bp. Hall.

Daily; every day.

The quality of being diurnal.

Pertaining to the time of equal day and night; -- applied to the equinoctial line. Whewell.

x hours, or in half the time between the rising and setting of a heavenly body; as, a semidiurnal arc.

al aberration, when the observer's motion is that of the earth in its orbit, and dairy or diurnal aberration, when of the earth on its axis; amounting when greatest, in the former case, to 20.4'', and in the latter, to 0.3''. Planetary aberration is that due to the motion of light and the motion of the planet relative…

- Acceleration and retardation of the tides. See Priming of the tides, under Priming. -- Diurnal acceleration of the fixed stars, the amount by which their apparent diurnal motion exceeds that of the sun, in consequence of which they daily come to the meridian of any place about three minutes fifty-six seconds of sola…

parent arc described, above or below the horizon, by the sun or other celestial body. The diurnal arc is described during the daytime, the nocturnal arc during the night. Electric arc, Voltaic arc. See under Voltaic.

A general name for the numerous species of diurnal Lepidoptera.

point, exceeding 16º in twenty-four hours or 20º in thirty-six hours, independent of the diurnal range.

her exercise taken for one's health or constitution. [Colloq.] Thackeray. The men trudged diurnal constitutionals along the different roads. Compton Reade.

Happening, or belonging to, each successive day; diurnal; as, daily labor; a daily bulletin. Give us this day our daily bread. Matt. vi. 11. Bunyan has told us . . . that in New England his dream was the daily subject of the conversation of thousands. Macaulay.

Beginning and ending in a day; existing only, or no longer than, a day; diurnal; as, an ephemeral flower.

The flowing in of the tide; the semidiurnal swell or rise of water in the ocean; -- opposed to ebb; as, young flood; high flood. There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Shak.

, its lines of latitude and longitude, its zones, and the phenomena due to to the earth's diurnal and annual motions. -- Physical geography treats of the conformation of the earth's surface, of the distribution of land and water, of minerals, plants, animals, etc., and applies the principles of physics to the explanat…

ade apparently stationary, by being steadily directed to one spot during the whole of its diurnal period; also, a geodetic heliotrope.

Daily; diurnal. [Obs.] Whiles from their journal labors they did rest. Spenser.

to the spectator, causing the alternate appearance and disappearance of either pole. (c) Diurnal or parallactic libration, that which brings into view on the upper limb, at rising and setting, some parts not in the average visible hemisphere.

izon, so that the altitude is small; -- said of the heavenly bodies with reference to the diurnal revolution; as, the moon runs low, that is, is comparatively near the horizon when on or near the meridian.