(v. i.) The point in the ecliptic at which the sun is farthest from the equator, north or south, namely, the first point of the sign Cancer and the first point of the sign Capricorn, the former being the summer solstice, latter the winter solstice, in northern latitudes; -- so called because the sun then apparently stands still in its northward or southward motion.
(v. i.) The time of the sun's passing the solstices, or solstitial points, namely, about June 21 and December 21. See Illust. in Appendix.
Example Sentences:
(1) Regression occurred after the summer solstice and recrudescence occurred after the winter solstice.
(2) Immunization to provoke a persistent anti-melatonin antibody response at the winter solstice resulted in significantly increased greasy fleece weight, % cashmere yield, and mass of cashmere produced, but no change in fibre diameter in both sexes.
(3) Five adult pasture-bred French Friesian cows were used to qualify the circadian profile and characterized pulsatility of plasma melatonin, and to estimate melatonin secretion rate, around the summer solstice.
(4) Ovaries, pituitary gland, hypothalamus and a blood sample were collected from six groups of mares (6-12 mares per group) at death, 1 week before day of the winter solstice and 1, 2, 3 and 12 weeks afterwards.
(5) Plasma melatonin was measured at the summer and winter solstices and the autumn and spring equinoxes in Romney Marsh sheep held under natural conditions in South Australia (35 degrees S).
(6) In June, the owner, Oliver Poiss, threw a huge summer solstice party with six wild boar roasting on spits and a $10,000 equipment giveaway.
(7) The following year, three animals were transferred from natural to summer solstice daylength on February 25 and were held on the artificial photoperiod until September 30.
(8) The solstice marks the peak of summer and takes place when the sun is at its highest point in the sky.
(9) Nobody knows what they mean: they may be solstice markers, clan symbols, decorative motifs or simply ancient graffiti.
(10) On the summer solstice, 3 groups of ovariectomized ewes (n = 6) bearing s.c. Silastic implants of estradiol (OVX + E) were placed in different day length treatments: 1) natural photoperiod; 2) artificial photoperiod, stimulating natural day lengths; or 3) artificial photoperiod equivalent to that of the summer solstice (16.25L).
(11) A control group was held on the winter solstice day length (10L:14D) until the end of the study in mid-March.
(12) At 6-14 days after each of the solstices and equinoxes, six females were exposed to a photoperiod equivalent to the natural day length at these times.
(13) The amplitude of the day-night rhythm decreased in such a way that the nocturnal peak of melatonin completely disappeared during the winter solstice.
(14) Castrated rabbits were perfused during spring; castrated rabbits with testosterone capsule implants were perfused during late spring, around summer solstice and in summer and castrated rabbits with placebo implants were perfused during periods (iii) and (iv).
(15) Perfusions were performed in the following four periods, defined by season and time after testosterone and placebo implants: (i) spring; before implants, (ii) late spring; 0-2 weeks after implants, (iii) summer solstice; 2-4 weeks after implants and (iv) summer; 4-6 weeks after implants.
(16) At approximately the spring and autumn equinox and the summer and winter solstice, rats were killed at 3-h intervals over a 24 h period and their serum thyroxine (T4), triiodothyronine (T3) and reverse T3 levels were determined.
(17) (3) The time of onset of the breeding season does not depend upon the decreasing photoperiod after the summer solstice, nor does it require the photoperiod to stop increasing as the summer solstice approaches.
(18) Animals maintained in natural photoperiods or simulated natural changes in daylength after the winter solstice all entered reproductive quiescence by early February.
(19) This marginal delay in the arrest of reproductive activity seen in both experiments indicates that the lack of decrease in day length around and after the winter solstice may play some role in timing the end of the breeding season.
(20) The importance of decreasing photoperiod after the summer solstice in determining the onset and duration of the breeding season was tested by housing ewes from the summer solstice in either a simulated natural photoperiod or a fixed summer-solstice photoperiod (18 h light:6 h dark; summer-solstice hold).
Solstitial
Definition:
(a.) Of or pertaining to a solstice.
(a.) Happening at a solstice; esp. (with reference to the northern hemisphere), happening at the summer solstice, or midsummer.
Example Sentences:
(1) "Now we can see how the utmost care and attention was devoted to ensuring the pristine appearance of Stonehenge for those completing their final approach to the monument along the solstitial axis.
(2) Adult female Bennett's wallabies (N = 6) were maintained in artificial winter solstitial daylengths commencing 3 weeks before the winter solstice for 16 or 42 weeks.
(3) These results contrast with the effect of fixed artificial summer solstitial daylengths on the onset of the breeding season in which breeding begins spontaneously at the normal time of year as a result of long-day photorefractoriness.