The Collaborative International Dictionary
Autumnal \Au*tum"nal\, a. [L. auctumnalis, autumnalis: cf. F. automnal.]
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Of, belonging to, or peculiar to, autumn; as, an autumnal tint; produced or gathered in autumn; as, autumnal fruits; flowering in autumn; as, an autumnal plant.
Thick as autumnal leaves that strow the brooks In Vallombrosa.
--Milton. -
Past the middle of life; in the third stage.
An autumnal matron.
--Hawthorne.Autumnal equinox, the time when the sun crosses the equator, as it proceeds southward, or when it passes the autumnal point.
Autumnal point, the point of the equator intersected by the ecliptic, as the sun proceeds southward; the first point of Libra.
Autumnal signs, the signs Libra, Scorpio, and Sagittarius, through which the sun passes between the autumnal equinox and winter solstice.
Wiktionary
n. 1 the moment when the sun appears to cross the celestial equator, heading southward 2 the point where the ecliptic intersects the celestial equator at that time
WordNet
n. September 22 [syn: September equinox, fall equinox] [ant: vernal equinox]
(astronomy) the equinoctial point that lies in the constellation of Virgo
Usage examples of "autumnal equinox".
In the month that summer began, word came to Aravan that a ship would be awaiting them at Ander to sail on the autumnal equinox and bear them to Innuk.
And there was yet a week and a day ere the autumnal equinox would come.
Dupuis, who, in his learned memoirs concerning the Origin of the Constellations and Origin of all Worship, has assigned many plausible reasons to prove that Libra was formerly the sign of the vernal, and Aries of the autumnal equinox.
At the vernal and at the autumnal equinox I take a good meal, and that lasts me for half a year.
Beginning at the time of the autumnal equinox, an extremely rare astronomical alignment will occur between the galactic and solar planes.
It wasn't until the day preceding the autumnal equinox that Kamion and I quite firmly told Daran that he wouldn't be going along.
Some of the younger Jhesta Tu were practicing with the magical gemstones, he knew, in preparation for the celebration of the autumnal equinox that evening.
The year began on the autumnal equinox, which happened to be the anniversary of the foundation of the Republic.