antipodes

From Latin, from Ancient Greek ἀντίποδες (antípodes), from ἀντί (antí, “opposite”) + πόδες (pódes), plural of πούς (poús, “foot”).

• IPA^(key): /ænˈtɪp.əˌdiz/[1]

antipodes (uncountable)

1. The place on the diametrically opposite side of the earth from a given point.
   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:

     We should hold day with the Antipodes,
     If you would walk in absence of the sun.

2. The Southern Hemisphere.
   • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter I, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

     […] a delighted shout from the children swung him toward the door again. His sister, Mrs. Gerard, stood there in carriage gown and sables, radiant with surprise. ¶ "Phil!  You!  Exactly like you, Philip, to come strolling in from the antipodes—dear fellow!" recovering from the fraternal embrace and holding both lapels of his coat in her gloved hands.

3. (UK, now rare) Australia and New Zealand.
4. (figuratively, by extension) The opposite of something.
   • 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVII, in Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 295:

     The sleepy yet shrewd judge was the antipodes to confidence, but to Don Manuel he felt no hesitation in frankly stating his actions and their motives, from his first arrival in Spain to the present time.

5. plural of antipode

• at antipodes
• antipodean

• Pintadoes, pintadoes

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antipodes m pl

1. plural of antipode