adv., sb. and a. Forms: 1 suþ-, suðweard, 3 suþ-, suð-, 4– southward, 5–6 -warde, Sc. 5–7 -wart, 4, 7 sowthward. See also SOUTHARD. [OE. súðweard, f. SOUTH adv. + -WARD. Cf. MDu. suut-, sude-, zuytwaert, MLG. sûdwart, -wert.]
A. adv. 1. Towards the south; in a southern direction: a. Of motion or direction.
c. 893. K. Ælfred, Oros., I. i. § 10. Þær of þæm beorʓum wilþ seo ea suþweard Eufrates.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., III. 250. Heo [sc. the sun] cyrð ðær ongean eft suðweard.
a. 1122. O. E. Chron. (Laud MS.), an. 1095. Þa het he makian ænne castel,… & syððan suðweard for.
c. 1205. Lay., 29543. Swa he droh suð-ward, Þat he com to Dorchestre.
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., I. 234. Þo tornede þe wynd in-to þe North, and drof heom south-ward faste.
c. 1391. Chaucer, Astrol., I. § 17. His Moeuyng is clepid sowth-ward as fro the equinoxial.
c. 1450. Contin. Brut, 533. Whan he had taried a while in þe Northe … he retorned Southwarde.
1535. Coverdale, Numb. xiii. 17. Go vp southwarde … and loke vpon the londe how it is.
1598. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. ii. IV. Columnes, 391. Then South-ward Sol doth retrograde.
1603. Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot., 506/1. Passand ovir the streit … southwart to the loch.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 437. They take their Flight;… Nor Southward to the Rainy Regions run, But boring to the West.
1726–46. Thomson, Winter, 920. Life … from the dreary months Flies conscious southward.
1841. W. Spalding, Italy & It. Isl., II. 32. The apostle … fled from Rome southward.
1872. Tennyson, Gareth & Lynette, 179. Southward they set their faces.
b. Of relative position.
1390. Gower, Conf., III. 127. After hem [sc. constellations] I finde thus, Southward from Alisandre forth Tho Signes [etc.].
1412–20. Lydg., Chron. Troy, I. 1518. Phebus southward was reised in his arke.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit. (1637), 631. Beneath Brecknock and Hereford-shire Southward, lyeth the County of Monmouth.
1669. Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., VII. xvi. 25. Those that live 90 deg. from us Northward or Southward.
1726. in W. Wing, Ann. Steeple Aston, 44. The land … of Mr. Belcher lying northward and of Brazennose College southward.
c. Followed by of.
1630. Capt. Smith, Wks. (Arb.), 953. The best Countries … of the world, both Northward and Southward of the line.
1649. Davenant, Love & Honour, II. i. 701. In a cloud, Southward of yonder star.
1738. Gentl. Mag., VIII. 164/1, 20. League Southward of Porto Rico.
1771. Encycl. Brit., III. 379/1. Because Port-Royal is southward of the Lizard.
1814. Scott, Diary, 26 Aug., in Lockhart. Southward of both lies Muick, or Muck.
1896. Baden-Powell, Matabele Campaign, ii. 25. Half a mile southward of the town lies a bush-covered rising ground.
d. Comb., as southward-facing, -looking, etc.
1853. M. Arnold, Scholar Gypsy, xxiv. The fringes of a southward-facing brow.
1871. Morris, Earthly Par., IV. 88. The southward-looking hill.
1885–94. R. Bridges, Eros & Psyche, March 23. The southward stretching margin of a bay.
2. quasi-sb. = next.
1842. Macaulay, Regillus, xxiii. So came he far to southward.
1884. Bedford, Sailor’s Handbk., 101. The land wind comes off moderately from southward.
B. sb. That direction or part which lies to the south of a place, etc.
1555. Eden, Decades (Arb.), 382. Wee had the wynde more easterly to the southwarde then before.
1618. in Foster, Eng. Factories Ind. (1906), I. 3. Some new way to have a ship from the sowthward.
1707. Lond. Gaz., No. 4386/2. Several other light Colliers … are this Day come hither from the Southward.
1748. Anson’s Voy., I. vi. 66. The wild cattle … have spread … from Buenos Ayres towards the southward.
1820. Scoresby, Acc. Arctic Reg., II. 210. Any situation in a lower latitude than 78°, is called the ‘southward.’
1840. R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, x. It looked black at the southward and eastward.
1883. Stevenson, Treas. Isl., xxiii. I made sure she also was wheeling to the southward.
b. Const. of (a place, thing, etc.).
1624. Capt. Smith’s Wks. (Arb.), 762. To trade to the Southward of Cape Cod.
1650. Bulwer, Anthropomet., xi. (1653), 179. The people on the southward of Tinda.
1748. Anson’s Voy., II. i. 116. The highlands on the southward of the bay.
1801. Sir H. Parker, in A. Duncan, Nelson (1806), 140. The wind veered again to the southward of the west.
1854. W. Osburn, Mon. Hist. Egypt, II. ii. 54. We noticed one [a mutilated tomb] a little to the southward of Melawi.
C. adj. That has a southerly situation or direction; lying, facing, moving, etc., towards the south.
1611. Shaks., Wint. T., IV. iv. 819. The Sunne looking with a South-ward eye vpon him.
1638. Chilmead, trans. Hues’ Treat. Globes, I. ii. (Hakl. Soc.), 31. The bright Starre … in the end of the taile (which is also the most Southward of all).
1736. Ainsworth, II. Australis, adj., southward, southern.
1820. Scoresby, Acc. Arctic Reg., II. 211. A number have been taken in the southward fishing stations.
1864. Kerr, Gentlem. Ho., 290. A southward aspect is … advantageous.
1882. Swinburne, Tristr. (1899), 237. With the southward swallow.
