This is a continuation of what I wrote on this topic here.
IV
Apart from time zones and daylight savings time, noon means midday, the time that the sun is directly overhead, when the sun crosses the meridian. Is noon the time when the sun is directly overhead or is vertical the direction of the sun at noon? Which is first, noon or vertical, time or space? They’re together.
The direction north means toward the North Pole. For practical reasons magnetic north is often used instead. Surveyors use magnetic north to orient their surveys but they have to specify the year because magnetic north moves slowly on the earth. So magnetic north is a place in space and time, not space only. That means north is a direction in space and time.
One could say something similar about the direction toward the North Pole from an astronomical perspective as the earth moves in its orbit around the sun, i.e., the celestial north pole. Polar north is a direction in space and time.
What are the poles but the intersections of the surface of the Earth with its axis of rotation?
Here are helpful definitions from the Sundial Primer:
North: the intersection of the local meridian with the horizon, in the direction of the north celestial pole.
South: one of the cardinal points of the compass, in the direction opposite north, in the direction of the south celestial pole.
East: the point on the horizon 90º (measured clockwise) from the North. The Sun appears to rise from the East point on the equinoxes.
West: the point on the horizon 90º (measured anti-clockwise) from the North. The Sun appears to set at the West point on the equinoxes.