Both Uses of
apex
in
Moby Dick
- Planted with their broad ends on the deck, a circle of these slabs laced together, mutually sloped towards each other, and at the apex united in a tufted point, where the loose hairy fibres waved to and fro like the top-knot on some old Pottowottamie Sachem's head.†
Chpt 16-18 *apex = highest point
- And that the Egyptians were a nation of mast-head standers, is an assertion based upon the general belief among archaeologists, that the first pyramids were founded for astronomical purposes: a theory singularly supported by the peculiar stair-like formation of all four sides of those edifices; whereby, with prodigious long upliftings of their legs, those old astronomers were wont to mount to the apex, and sing out for new stars; even as the look-outs of a modern ship sing out for a sail, or a whale just bearing in sight.†
Chpt 34-36
Definitions:
-
(1)
(apex) the highest point or most important level of something
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
The "highest point" can be physical or metaphorical -- as in the apex of his career.
Much more rarely, "Apex" is used in the travel industry as an acronym for "advance-purchase excursion"; i.e., to reference tickets that are discounted due to advance purchase.