The Sailor's Word-Book / An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, including Some More Especially Military and Scientific, but Useful to Seamen; as well as Archaisms of Early Voyagers, etc.

by W. H. Smyth

MEALES, or Miols. Immense sand-banks thrown up by the sea on the coasts of Norfolk, Lancashire, &c.

MEAN. As a general term implies the medium, but a mean of bad observations can never make a good one.

MEAN ANOMALY. See [Anomaly].

MEAN DISTANCE. The average distance of a planet from the sun; it is equal to half the longer axis of the ellipse, and hence is frequently termed the semi-axis major.

MEAN EQUINOX. The position of the equinox independent of the effects of nutation.

MEAN MOTION. The rate at which a body moving in an elliptic orbit would proceed at an equal velocity throughout.

MEAN NOON. The noon of a mean day supposing the year to be divided into days of equal length. It differs from apparent noon by the amount of the equation of time for that date.

MEAN OBLIQUITY. The obliquity of the ecliptic, unaffected with nutation.

MEAN PLACE OF A STAR. Its position at a given time, independent of aberration and nutation.

MEAN SUN. See [Time].