south-west, adv., n., and a.
(saʊθˈwɛst)
[OE. s{uacu}ðwest (see south and west), = OFris. s{uacu}dwest, MDu. suut-, suytwest (Du. zuidwest), OS. sûthuuest (MLG. sûtwest), OHG. suntwest (G. südwest), Da. sydvest. Cf. OF. suroest, F. sud-ouest, Sp. sudoeste, Pg. sudueste.]
A. adv.
1. a. In the direction situated midway between south and west. Also followed by of.
| c 893 K. ælfred Oros. i. i. 24 An ðæra garena lið suð⁓west ongean þæt iᵹland þe Gades hatte. a 1122 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1097, Ða..ætywde an selcuð steorra... He wæs ᵹesewen suðweast. 14.. Sailing Directions (Hakl. Soc. 1889) 12 Fro Orfordnesse to Orwell waynys the cours is southwest. c 1440 Pallad. on Husb. ii. 164 Yf they do, turne hem southwest or west. 1574 in Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 263/1 Passand linialie southwest thruch the mos. 1610 Sandys Relat. Journ. (1637) 22 Foure miles south-west from the foresaid place. 1633 T. James Voy. 24 Wee stood South-west. 1719 De Foe Crusoe ii. (Globe) 466 His Comrades..came on Southward, and South-West. 1771 Encycl. Brit. III. 942/1 Winchester [is]..sixty-five miles south-west of London. 1849 Cupples Green Hand ii. (1856) 16 ‘How does she head just now, Jacobs?’ ‘Sou'-west-and-by-south, sir.’ 1870 Morris Earthly Par. iii. iv. 88 The rook still flies South-west before the wind. |
b. From this direction.
| 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 306 The little wind that blew being south-west-by-south. |
2. quasi-n. a. at south-west, = prec. sense. b. = next sense.
| 1555 Eden Decades (Arb.) 258 Directynge theyr course towarde Southewest, they came to an other Ilande. 1591 Raleigh Last Fight Revenge (Arb.) 32 They came into the height of 35. degrees,..where they found the winde at South⁓west. 1638 Chilmead tr. Hues' Treat. Globes iv. iii. (Hakl. Soc.) 100 Betwixt South west and bywest. 1671 Milton P.R. iv. 237 Look once more e're we leave this specular Mount Westward, much nearer by Southwest, behold Where [etc.]. 1777 G. White Selborne lxxviii, The wind at south-west, and the thermometer at 58½. 1865 Kingsley Herew. xxxviii, The vast forest which ringed London round from north-east to south-west. 1884 Bedford Sailor's Handbk. 192 The current runs to the north-west with winds south of south-west. |
B. n.
1. a. The direction, district, or region situated between south and west.
| a 1122 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1106, Se steorra ætywde innon þæt suðwest. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 173 Mesia..ioyneþ in þe..south west to Dalmatia. 1517 R. Torkington Pilgr. (1884) 61 The wynde Rose in the Suth⁓weste. 1577 Harrison Descr. Brit. xii. in Holinshed, Erin riseth of sundrie heads, and..peninsulateth Seleseie towne on the southwest. 1611 Bible Acts xxvii. 12 Phenice..lieth toward the Southwest. 1731 Miller Gard. Dict. s.v. Wind, The Wind..is like to be in the South or South⁓west. 1789 J. Williams Min. Kingd. I. 102 You advance..with your face towards the southwest. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. ii. v. iii, Such is the combustion of Avignon and the South-west. 1855 Orr's Circ. Sci., Inorg. Nat. 117 Represented by soft sands..in the south-west of France. |
b. U.S. The south-western states.
| 1835 J. H. Otey in W. M. Green Mem. J. H. Otey (1885) 15 Connected with my journey to the South-West, was an ardent desire to forward..a projected plan of a Literary and Theological Seminary, to meet the wants of Episcopalians in Tennessee and Mississippi and Louisiana. 1897 Sears, Roebuck Catal. 342/2 The best specimens of broad burlesque for which the Southwest is so distinguished. 1925 C. F. Lummis (title) Mesa, cañon and pueblo; our wonderland of the Southwest. 1935 A. G. Macdonell Visit to America ix. 142 It must have been from the Spanish south-west..that the first prospectors came..into Montana. 1976 ‘R. Macdonald’ Blue Hammer xv. 83 Mildred was the most beautiful woman in the South-west. 1979 G. Macdonald Camera ix. 130/2 In the South-West the pueblo Indians..were..much photographed. |
c. ellipt. for South West Africa (now Namibia).
| 1976 J. McClure Rogue Eagle i. 22 Ma..said she'd write to her family in South West, but he said that was just another Bantustan these days. 1978 S. Naipaul North of South ii. vi. 245 Abraham had been in Namibia (‘South-West’)... It was in South-West..that he and Tessa had met. |
2. The (or a) south-west wind.
| 1610 Shakes. Temp. i. ii. 323 A Southwest blow on yee, And blister you all ore. 1725 Pope Odyss. xii. 343 Should the fierce south-west..toss with rising storms the watery way. 1859 Tennyson Geraint & Enid 935 As the south⁓west that blowing Bala lake Fills all the Sacred Dee. |
C. adj.
1. Of the wind: Blowing from the south-west.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. v. 14 Þe southwest wynde..Was pertliche for pure pryde, and for no poynt elles. 1483 Cath. Angl. 350/2 Þe Sowthe west wynde, fauonius, affricus. 1526 Tindale Acts xxvii. 12 Whych haven..servith to the soughwest and northwest wynde. 1597 A. M. tr. Guillemeau's Fr. Chirurg. 51 b/1 A south-west wind, with warmishe showres of rayne. 1608 Shakes. Per. iv. i. 51 Is this wind westerly that blows? Leon. South-west. 1731 Miller Gard. Dict. s.v. Barometer, A long continu'd Storm of South-west Wind. 1829 Chapters Phys. Sci. 428 The great rains which deluge the whole of India during the south-west monsoon. 1884 Bedford Sailor's Handbk. 146 From that latitude.., much south-west wind is experienced. |
2. a. Lying in or situated to the south-west.
| c 1440 Astron. Cal. (MS. Ashm. 391), A sowþe weste moone and a norþe Est moone maken an high flode at london brigge. 1540 Test. Ebor. (Surtees) VI. 120 To be buried in the churche yerde..in the southe weste corner. 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 117 The sunne southwest for hopyard is best. 1663 Butler Hud. i. i. 68 He could..divide A Hair 'twixt South and South-West side. 1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Compass, What has been said of North-East Amplitudes, holds also of South-West Amplitudes. 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) II. 624 The south-west side of the island. 1837 P. Keith Bot. Lex. 14 The south-west and south-east coasts [of North America]..being..the more flat. 1886 Stevenson Kidnapped xiii, The reef..was close in under the south-west end of Mull. |
b. With proper names, denoting the south-western division of a city, country, continent, etc.
| 1858 1st Rep. South-West London Protestant Inst. 3 Rules. 1. That this Society be called ‘The South-West London Protestant Institute’. 1899 Geogr. Jrnl. May 563 A notice of Dr. Rehbock's work on irrigation in German South-West Africa. 1946 Whitaker's Almanack 1947 789 The Orange..is the principal river of the south,..flowing into the Atlantic between the Protectorate of South-West Africa and the Cape of Good Hope. 1950 H. Briercliffe Southern England p. iii, There is necessarily some overlapping with..South-west England and the Midlands. 1968 Ann. Reg. 1967 326 The South African Government remained completely unmoved by United Nations' efforts to plan the implementation of the 1966 General Assembly resolution that South West Africa be removed from South African control. 1980 Times 14 June 1/8 The Middle East, or south-west Asia as the Americans now call it. |
3. Directed towards the south-west.
| 1756 F. Home Exper. Bleaching 67, I exposed, in a south⁓west window, half an oz. of Castile soap. 1812 New Botanic Gard. I. 61 A wall which had a south-west aspect. 1825 Greenhouse Comp. I. 11 A green-house with a west or even south-west aspect. |