[f. WEST adv. Cf. easterly, etc., and next.]
A. adj.
1. Coming from the west.
1577. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., I. 20. What time so euer it be doone, you must looke that the winde be Westerly.
1608. Shaks., Per., IV. i. 51. Is this wind Westerlie that blowes?
1690. in Foster, Eng. Factories Ind. (1906), 221. A fine gentle westerlie sea winde blowing.
1748. Anson’s Voy., II. iii. 140. The westerly winds … are almost perpetual in that part.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., x. II. 641. She … had been detained in Holland … by strong westerly winds.
1855. Kingsley, Westw. Ho! xxxii. They got on a lee shore in Cardigan Bay, before a heavy westerly gale.
1886. Stevenson, Kidnapped, xiii. She tore through the seas at a great rate, pitching and straining, and pursued by the westerly swell.
Comb. 1868. Joynson, Metals, 116. Even the weather has to be consulted,—a westerly-wind day is the best.
2. Situated in or towards the west.
1577. Harrison, England, II. i. 49 b/1, in Holinshed. Two waters … whereof the westerly called Basingwater, commeth from Basingstoke.
1584. R. Norman, trans. Safegard of Sailers, 10. The most westerly houses of Wieringhen.
a. 1609. Sir F. Vere, Comm. (1657), 51. Flores and Corvo, the westerliest Islands of the Azores.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit. (1637), 677. But the more Westerly part is not so fruitfull.
1669. Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., IV. iii. 147–8. This Table … sheweth how much a Ship is more … Easterly or Westerly, by sailing upon any Point or Quarter-point of the Compass, [etc.].
1765. R. Rogers, Concise Acc. N. Amer., title-p., The Interior, or Westerly Parts of the Country, upon the Rivers St. Laurence, the Mississippi, [etc.].
1825. J. Neal, Bro. Jonathan, III. 381. All the water on the westerly side of the town, was of a clear wine colour.
1871. Daily News, 1 Feb., 5/6. Close to the western inclosure of this chateau the eight twelve-pounders moved forward from one of the more westerly batteries.
b. Of a person: Dwelling in the west.
1865. W. G. Palgrave, Arabia, II. xiv. 241. Nor are more westerly historians always exempt from similar weaknesses.
3. Situated near the western horizon.
1801. Southey, Thalaba, VI. v. Nor stay’d he till over the westerly heaven The shadows of evening had spread.
1829. Scott, Anne of G., xxx. The distant landscape, partly illumined, with ominous lustre, by the now westerly sun.
4. Extending towards the west; facing the west. Of motion, progress, etc.: Directed towards the west or the western horizon.
1637. R. Norwood, Sea-mans Pract., ix. (1655), 115. Then shall you have … the Latitudes and Longitudes of all Places as you saile, which may more easily and exactly be exprest upon this Chart, then the Easterly or Westerly distances.
1669. Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., IV. iii. 153. The Westerly [Distance] is 1695/100 Leagues.
1802. C. Findlater, Agric. Peebles, 18. The hills … of a southerly or westerly exposure, are generally more verdant.
1843. Prescott, Mexico (1850), I. 336. Where the vapours from the ocean, touching in their westerly progress, maintain a rich verdure throughout the year.
1878. Newcomb, Pop. Astron., I. ii. 58. The westerly motion of the latter [planet].
1897. Mary Kingsley, W. Africa, 362. This … leads from Ntamo to the Atlantic in a nearly due westerly direction.
B. sb. pl. The prevailing westerly winds found in certain latitudes.
1876. W. J. J. Spry, Cruise ‘Challenger,’ 109. The strong westerlies caused the weather to be of such a boisterous character.
1897. F. T. Bullen, Cruise ‘Cachalot,’ 86. The dirty weather and variable squalls, which nearly always precede the ‘westerlies.’
1898. Jrnl. Sch. Geog. (U.S.), Oct., 303. The beginning of the régime of the prevailing westerlies came at about latitude 40° S.
