adv., sb. and a. [f. SOUTH-WEST + -WARD.] So MDu. suytwestwairt.]
A. adv. = SOUTH-WEST adv.
1548. Patten, Exped. Scotl., M vj. Thear stode southwestward about a quarter of a mile from our campe, a monasterie.
1553. Eden, Treat. New Ind. (Arb.), 28. He sayled by the costes of the Ilande Southweste warde.
1612. Drayton, Poly-olb., viii. 3. Clear Sabrine … South-westward casts her course.
1792. Morse, Amer. Geog., 48. The … mountains which run south-westward through Pennsylvania.
1820. Keats, Lamia, I. 179. That other ridge … Stretches … Southwestward to Cleone.
1876. Meredith, Beauch. Career, xxxv. Save where a quarry south-westward gaped at the evening sun.
1884. Bedford, Sailor’s Handbk., 441. The anchorage for large vessels is south-westward of Little Sea Hill.
B. sb. = SOUTH-WEST sb.
1775. Phil. Trans., LXVIII. 392. When the ship’s head was to the Southwestward.
1831. Scott, Cast. Dang., i. Coming from the south-westward.
1884. Bedford, Sailor’s Handbk., 411. [The currents] often run with great velocity to the south-westward.
C. adj. Tending towards the south-west.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., I. 384. The river Kennebeck takes a southwestward course.
So South-westwards adv.
1745. trans. Egede’s Descr. Greenland, 39. The Current … running along the shore, South-Westwards.
1879. Geikie, in Encycl. Brit., X. 339/2. From the mouth of the St. Lawrence south-westwards into Alabama.
