Dictionary

Part of speech: noun (n.)

1. Vertical position; zenith. [R.]

2. A vertical line, plane, or circle. Prime vertical, Prime vertical dial. See under Prime, a.

Part of speech: adjective (a.)

1. Of or pertaining to the vertex; situated at the vertex, or highest point; directly overhead, or in the zenith; perpendicularly above one. Charity . . . is the vertical top of all religion. Jer. Taylor.

2. Perpendicular to the plane of the horizon; upright; plumb; as, a vertical line. Vertical angle (Astron. & Geod.), an angle measured on a vertical circle, called an angle of elevation, or altitude, when reckoned from the horizon upward, and of depression when downward below the horizon. -- Vertical anthers (Bot.), such anthers as stand erect at the top of the filaments. -- Vertical circle (Astron.), an azimuth circle. See under Azimuth. -- Vertical drill, an drill. See under Upright. -- Vertical fire (Mil.), the fire, as of mortars, at high angles of elevation. -- Vertical leaves (Bot.), leaves which present their edges to the earth and the sky, and their faces to the horizon, as in the Australian species of Eucalyptus. -- Vertical limb, a graduated arc attached to an instrument, as a theodolite, for measuring vertical angles. -- Vertical line. (a) (Dialing) A line perpendicular to the horizon.