in antiquity, a name which the Romans gave to a kind of gladiators, who entered the arena about noon after the bestiarii (who fought in the morning against beasts) had finished. They were so called from meridies, noon, the time when they exhibited their shows. The meridiani were a sort of artless combatants, who fought man to man, sword in hand. Hence Seneca observes, that the combats of the morning were full of humanity compared with those which followed.

MERIDIONAL distance, in Navigation, is the same with departure, or casting and weasting, being the difference of longitude between the meridian under which the ship now is, and any other meridian which she was under before.

Meridional parts, miles, or minutes, in Navigation, are the parts by which the meridians in a Mercator's chart increase, as the parallels of latitude decrease.