adv., sb. and a. [OE. súðwest (see SOUTH and WEST), = WFris. súdwest, 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. 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 suðwest ongean þæt iʓland þe Gades hatte.
a. 1122. O. E. Chron. (Laud MS.), an. 1097. Ða … ætywde an selcuð steorra…. He was ʓesewen 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., 23–4. Wee stood South-west.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe, II. (Globe), 466. His Comrades began, and 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-sb. a. At south-west, = prec. b. = next.
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 Southwest.
1638. Chilmead, trans. Hues’ Treat. Globes, IV. iii. (Hakl. Soc.), 100. Betwixt South west and by west.
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 581/2.
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. sb. 1. 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. Torkington, Pilgr. (1884), 61. The wynde Rose in the Suthweste.
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 south-west.
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.
2. The (or a) south-west wind.
1610. Shaks., 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 southwest 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., trans. Guillemeau’s Fr. Chirurg., 51 b/1. A southvvest vvind, vvith vvarmishe shovvres of rayne.
1608. Shaks., Pericles, 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. 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.
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.
