Cūl'mi-nāte1, v. i.
v. i. [imp. & p. p. CULMINATED; p. pr. & vb. n. CULMINATING.] [From Lat. culmen, top or ridge; It. culminare, Fr. culminer. See CULMEN.]
Sense 1. To be vertical; to reach the highest point of altitude; to come to the meridian; — said of a heavenly body.
As when his beams at noon Culminate from the equator. Milton.
Sense 2. To reach the highest point, as of rank, size, numbers, and like qualities.
The reptile race culminated in the secondary era in geology. Dana.
The house of Burgundy was rapidly culminating, and as rapidly curtailing the political privileges of the Netherlands. Motley.