a. and sb. [OE. súðwesterne (see SOUTH adv. and WESTERN a.), = OHG. sundwestrôni.]
A. adj. 1. Of the wind: Blowing from the south-west.
c. 1000. Apollonius of Tyre (Thorpe), 11. Se angrislica suðwesterna wind him onʓean stod.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. V. 14. Þis souþ-Westerne wynt on a Seterday at euen.
1835. Mrs. Somerville, Connex. Phys. Sci., xv. (ed. 2), 147. The western and south-western gales, so prevalent in our latitudes.
1894. Gladstone, Horace, Odes, I. xiv. 19. Seest not? thy mast How rent by stiff southwestern blast?
2. Situated or extending towards the south-west; of or pertaining to the south-west.
1828–32. Webster, s.v., To sail a southwestern course.
1839. Penny Cycl., XV. 345/1. The south-western coast of the island of Sumatra.
1863. W. Barnes, Dorset Gloss., 9. The main marks of south-western English.
1888. Miss Braddon, Fatal Three, I. I. v. 84. It is too warm in this south-western country.
B. sb. A wave from the south-west. rare–1.
1872. Tennyson, Gareth & Lynette, 1117. Gareth … could not wholly bring him under, more Than loud Southwesterns, rolling ridge on ridge, The buoy that rides at sea.
Hence South-westerner, one belonging to the south-west (of the United States, etc.). Also South-westernmost adv.
1862. Ansted, Channel Isl., I. iii. 49. The south-westernmost angle.
1888. Encycl. Brit., XXIII. 799/1. The south-westernmost portion of the region.
1888. T. Roosevelt, in Century Mag., Feb., 502/2. The bulk of the cowboys themselves are South-westerners.
