▪ I. southerly, a. and n.
(ˈsʌðəlɪ)
[f. south; cf. northerly, easterly.]
A. adj.
1. Situated in or towards the south; southern.
| 1551 Recorde Cast. Knowl. (1556) 263 The one sorte are called Northerlye constellations, the other sorte Southerly constellations. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. ii. (1586) 58 b, In hote and Southerlie Countreis. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 691 The Southerliest Nations of Africa. 1635 E. Pagitt Christianogr. 35 In the more Southerly part of the great Promontory. 1768 G. White Selborne xiii, On account of my living in the most southerly county. 1814 Scott Diary 22 Aug. in Lockhart, The southerly line of what is called the Long Island. 1865 W. G. Palgrave Journ. thro' Arabia II. 79 We found the southerly plateau more..uneven than the northern. 1869 Dunkin Midn. Sky 32 Regulus is the most southerly. |
2. Of the wind: Blowing from the south. southerly burster, southerly buster (see burster 2, buster 3 a).
| 1602 Shakes. Ham. ii. ii. 397 When the Winde is Southerly, I know a Hawke from a Handsaw. 1617 Moryson Itin. ii. 141 They were enforced to stay by a contrary wind, being Southerly. 1721 Lond. Gaz. No. 5966/1 The Southerly and Westerly Winds keep the Fleets still at Elsenab. 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1780) s.v. Wind, Along the coast of Guinea,..the southerly and south-west winds blow perpetually. a 1822 Shelley On an Icicle i, Where southerly breezes Waft repose to some bosom as faithful as fair. 1850 B. C. Peck Recollections of Sydney viii. 132 It is almost a corollary, that the evening of a hot-wind day brings up a ‘southerly buster’, as we have heard the vulgar call it, very chill indeed..as this wind comes from the southerly region of the Australian Alps. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 47 In the greater part of Europe the southerly and westerly winds bring rain. |
3. Of distance: Extending southwards.
| 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. iv. iii. 153 The Southerly Distance is 172..Leagues. |
4. Tending or facing southwards.
| 1789 J. Williams Min. Kingd. I. 136 They are turned from the south-west to a southerly direction. 1857 Grindon Life: its Nature (ed. 2) iii. 31 No dwellings are so pleasant..as those which have a southerly aspect. 1869 H. F. Tozer Highl. Turkey I. 243 We mounted on the other side of the valley in a southerly direction. |
B. n. A wind blowing from the south; a southerly buster. Austral. and N.Z.
| 1943 K. Tennant Ride on Stranger viii. 79 When the Southerly blew, the stiff leaves..twisted rim-on to the blast. 1964 R. Braddon Year Angry Rabbit xiv. 123 What use is it being able to guarantee fine weather, or rain, or a cool southerly only on the coast? 1973 P. White Eye of Storm i. 65 How exotic, how naked her body felt when the southerly began to blow at the end of a sticky summer's day, caressing her inside her dresses. |
Hence ˈsoutherliness, ‘the being on or toward the South’ (Bailey, 1727, vol. II).
▪ II. southerly, adv.
(ˈsʌðəlɪ)
[Cf. prec. and -ly2.]
1. To the southward; in or towards the south; on the south side.
| 1577 Eden & Willes Hist. Trav. 233 b, The..streict..openeth southerly more and more, vntyll it come vnder the tropike of Cancer. 1601 Holland Pliny ii. xcvii. 43 When she is Northerly, and retired higher and farther from the earth, the tides are more gentle, than when shee is gone Southerly. 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. iv. iii. 148 You have altered the Latitude, that is..you are more Southerly or Northerly. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 145 Then we steered away more southerly for six or eight days. 1756 P. Browne Jamaica 27 The place, where it is observed, is a pleasant vale situated southerly. 1832 H. T. De la Beche Geol. Man. 95 A strong current sets from the Polar Seas..southerly down the coast of America. 1885 Manch. Exam. 10 Feb. 5/2 Crossing the hills.., he made his way southerly to Bangkok. |
2. From the direction of the south.
| a 1642 Sir W. Monson Naval Tracts ii. (1704) 260/1 The Wind chop'd up Southerly. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 175 The wind still holding southerly,..we could easily perceive the climate to change. 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1780) s.v. Wind, Along the coasts of Cambodia and China..the Monsoons blow northerly and southerly. |