Chiefly Sc. Also 1 westra, Sc. 4 westyr, 4–6 westir, (5 vestir, 6 vester, weister), 7 waster. [OE. westra (f. west WEST adv.) = ON. and Icel. vestri, vestari (Norw., Sw., Da. vestre). The comparative ending is different from that which appears in OHG. westar-, MHG., LG., Du., Fris. wester-, western.] Lying (more) towards the west; western.
963. in Birch, Cartul. Sax., III. 363. Se westra crochyrst. Ibid. (967), 486. Se westra east healh.
1365. Antiq. Aberd. & Banff (Spald. Club), IV. 758. Omnes terras … de Westir Drummelochi. Ibid. (1389), III. 261. Terras … de Westyr Badfothellis.
1438. Exch. Rolls Scotl., V. 56. De medietate terre de Westercloveth in Strathdone.
1474. Acta Auditorum (1839), 33/1. Þe landis of þe westir part of Strathenry.
1490. Acta Dom. Concil. (1839), 131/1. Þe landis of ester Copmalindy and Wester Copmanlindy.
1520. in Laing Charters (1899), 82. Of the whiche two chambres the oone is called the wester chambre.
1584. R. Norman, trans. Safegard of Sailers, 7. Keep off from the wester shore, for … the easter shore is deeper.
1613. J. Saris, Voy. Japan (Hakl. Soc.), 43. He was gone to the Wester side of the Iland.
1633. T. James, Voy., 35. We had … coasted the Wester side.
1680. A. Haig, in J. Russell, Haigs, xi. (1881), 309. The apple trees which is within the uppermost waster quarter.
1708. Lond. Gaz., No. 4430/5. The Magistrates and Town-Council of Anstruther-Wester.
1777. Watson, Philip II. (1793), I. x. 448. From the Easter to the Wester Scheldt.
1891. Hartland (Devon) Gloss., Easter, eastern. Similarly we have Wester, Nother, and Suther. Fields are frequently distinguished as Easter and Wester.
1898. A. Balfour, To Arms! vi. 95. He had been sentinel for an assembly of the hill-folk and outlawed men, away in the wilds of wester Dumfries.
† b. Naut. (Cf. EASTER a. and BOARD sb. 15.)
1697. Dampier, Voy., I. 81. But the Winds hanging in the westerbord, and blowing hard, oft put us by our Topsails; so that we could not fetch it.
