[f. SOUTH adv. or v. + -ING1.]
1. Of heavenly bodies: The action of crossing or approaching the meridian of a place.
1659. J. Moxon, Globes, II. liv. (1674), 105. The Time of her Rising, Southing, Setting, and Shining.
1697. Dryden, Æneid, V. 33. If I observ’d aright The southing of the Stars and Polar Light.
1786–7. Bonnycastle, Astron., 435. Southing of the stars, the time when they culminate or come to the meridian.
1834. Keith, Globes (1843), Cont. p. xxiii. To find the time of the Moon’s southing … on any given day of the month.
1859. R. F. Burton, Centr. Afr., in Jrnl. Geog. Soc., XXIX. 207. The gradual refrigeration of the ground, and the southing of the sun, produce … the north-east monsoon.
1890. Science-Gossip, XXVI. 39. Rising, Southing, and Setting of the Principal Planets, at intervals of Seven Days, for February.
2. Progress, movement or deviation towards the south made in sailing, travelling, etc.; difference in latitude due to moving southward. Chiefly in Navigation.
1669. Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., IV. xvii. 202. In the … tenth and eleventh Columns, set down the Northing, Southing, Easting, and Westing.
1690. Leybourn, Curs. Math., 641. Subtract the Lesser Northing or Southing from the Greater.
1712. E. Cooke, Voy. S. Sea, 30. A strong Current … oblig’d us to correct our Southing considerably.
1771. Encycl. Brit., III. 370/2. Then they sum up all the northings, and all the southings.
1857. Livingstone, Trav., v. 95. The prevailing winds … are easterly, with a little southing.
1868. Contemp. Rev., April, 600. In 1486 Diaz found the final southing of the protracted African coast-line.
b. Freq. in the phr. to make (…) southing.
1803. Nelson, 23 May, in Nicolas, Disp. (1845), V. 74. He would certainly make Southing with his Westing.
1844. Kinglake, Eöthen, ii. After Adrianople I had made more southing than I knew for.
1899. F. T. Bullen, Log Sea-waif, 178. We had always managed to make some Southing each day.
