| 释义 |
▪ I. western, a., n.1, and adv.|ˈwɛstən|
Forms: 1, 6–7 westerne, (1, 6 weasterne); 4–6 westeren, 6– western; 1 wæstrene, 2 westrene, 4–7 westren.
[OE. westerne (f. west west adv. + -ern): cf. OS. and OHG. westrôni, ON. vestrœ́nn (Norw. dial. vestrøn).]
A. adj.
1. Coming from the west. Of the wind, a gale, etc.: Blowing from the west. Of a current of water: Flowing from the west.
c1050Bæda's Hist. v. xix. (MS. B.) Sona ðæs þe he on scip eode, ða astah westerne wind & bleow. a1100Aldhelm Gloss. in Napier O.E. Glosses xxiii. 17 Zepheri, westernes windes. 1398Trevisa Barth De P.R. xii. xv. (Bodl. MS.) Whanne þe westeren winde blowiþ. 1530Palsgr. 288/1 Westerne wynde, le vent daual. 1581A. Hall Iliad ii. 23 When as the western winde doth meete a field of graine, In haruest time. 1604E. G[rimstone] tr. Acosta's Hist. Indies iii. iv. 128 They saile with a westerne winde vntill they come to the burning Zone. 1613–16W. Browne Brit. Past. i. iv. 79 A westerne milde, and pretty whispering gale. 1673Ray Journ. Low C. Rome 386 The commixture of the warm Southerly and Western air, with the cold Northerly and Eastern. 1748Anson's Voy. i. x. 103 The western winds which blew almost constantly there. a1771Gray Song 9 Western gales and skies serene Speak not always winter past. 1796Nelson Let. in Nicolas Disp. (1846) VII. Add. p. lix, I am endeavouring to get to the Eastward, but we have an amazing strong western current. 1802Leyden Mermaid viii, Softly blow, thou western Breeze! 1827H. Steuart Planter's G. (1828) 331 Removed Trees..appearing unaffected by the western, and southwestern blasts. 1867Morris Jason iv. 94 The piping of the following western breeze.
2. a. Dwelling in the west (of a country, esp. of England or Scotland); spec. living or originating in the ‘West country’ or south-western counties.
c1100O.E. Chron. (MS. D.) an. 1013, & com æþelmær ealdorman þyder & þa wæstrena ðeᵹenas mid him. 15..Ladye Bessie (Percy Soc.) 61 Hee..drewe an eigle upon the entrye, That the westeren men myghte yt see. 1570Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1576) 316 Muche are the Westerne men bound..to Polydore, who.. remouing the infamous reuenge from Dorsetshyre, laieth it vpon our men of Kent. 1668Wilkins Real Char. i. i. 4 A Western man [would speak it] thus, Chud eat more cheese an chad it. 1693T. Pitts New Martyrol. (ed. 4) 527 The..Christian Courage of the Western Sufferers. 1822Scott Halidon Hill i. ii. 497 O, were my western horsemen but come up, I would take part with you! 1841Lever O'Malley xiii, Few Western gentlemen were without constant intercourse with the Athlone attorney. 1869A. Macdonald Love, Law & Theol. xxv. 576 There was a respectable muster of western folks got up for the occasion.
b. Of things: Of or belonging to the south-western counties.
1545Rates Custom-ho. d vj b, A dossen karsay, iij. A westerne dossen, ii. 1653W. J. True Gentlew. Delight 85 To scald Milk after the Western Fashion. 1711Addison Spect. No. 129 ⁋3 Being a Lawyer of the Middle-Temple, a Cornishman by Birth, I generally ride the Western Circuit. 1782R. Locke (title) The Western Rebellion. 1886T. L. Kington-Oliphant New English I. 564 The Western dialect appears, as ch'am, ich cham, vilthy.
3. a. Having a position relatively west; lying towards or in the west. Western Approaches, the area of sea immediately to the west of Britain; Western hemisphere: see hemisphere 3; Western Islands = Western Isle (a), (b); Western Isle, (a) pl., the Hebrides; cf. west isles s.v. west a. 1 c; (b) pl., the Azores; † (c) Ireland (rare—1); Western Ocean, the Atlantic.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. viii. ix. (Tollemache MS.) Amonge þese tripliciteis of houses, þo þat beþ in þe Este ben strenger in here worchynge..þan þe Westren. 1584D. Powel Lloyd's Cambria 96 With a great armie out of Mercia and other westerne countries. 1610Holland Camden's Brit. 694 Pennigent, which among the Westerne hils mounteth aloft aboue the rest. 1649J. Taylor (Water P.) Wand. Wonders West 14 The farthest Western Parish of..Cornwall. 1671Milton P.R. iv. 25 He brought our Saviour to the western side Of that high mountain. 1691Sir G. Mackenzie Vind. Govt. Scot. 12 As to the bringing in the Highlanders on the Western shires..it is answered, that [etc.]. 1697W. Dampier New Voyage round World v. 107 The most remarkable places that I did ever hear of for their breeding, is at an Island in the West Indies called Caimanes, and the Isle Ascention in the Western Ocean. 1748Anson's Voy. ii. ix. 224 Tempestuous weather from the western quarter. 1758J. Armstrong Let. 21 Oct. in N. & Q. (1979) Feb. 44/2, I hope you have had an agreeable View of the Western Isles. 1760F. Fauquier Let. 28 Oct. in G. Reese Official Papers (1980) 422 The Vessel is cleared out for Gibraltar, and then under pretence of being drove by stress of Weather into Madeira or some of the western Isles. 1775Johnson (title) Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland. 1776Gibbon Decl. & Fall I. i. 5 The western isle might be improved into a valuable possession. 1784Cowper Task vi. 484 Where England, stretch'd towards the setting sun,..o'erlooks the western wave. 1805in Naval Documents U.S. Wars with Barbary Powers (U.S. Office Naval Rec.) (1944) V. 366 It is my opinion, she is competent to be sent across the Western Ocean, and should it be deemed necessary to send her to the Mediterranean, she could be speedily equipped. 1810J. E. Caldwell Tour through Part of Virginia (ed. 2) (1951) 47 The Azores, or Western Islands, are nine in number. 1810Scott Lady of L. i. viii, The Hunter marked that mountain high, The lone lake's western boundary. 1848B. Webb Cont. Ecclesiol. 117 The plan is quite basilican, containing a western bay between two western towers. 1870W. H. Knight W. Australia 1 The colony of Western Australia was founded on the 1st June, 1829. 1870Godman (title) Natural History of the Azores, or Western Islands. 1886Stevenson Kidnapped xxiv, We were to pass through the western end of the country of Balquhidder. 1920Times 1 Mar. 9/3 The title of Admiral Sir Reginald Tupper..has now been changed to Commander-in-Chief of the Western Approaches. There are three captains, R.N., in charge of Naval Areas under his orders. Captain Denis B. Crampton..commands the Irish Sea Area; Captain William D. Church..the Kingstown Area; and Captain E. G. Lowther-Crofton..the Buncrana Area. 1935J. Masefield Victorious Troy 8 Did you ever see a storm, a real storm, a Western Ocean Hurricane? 1946W. S. Churchill Secret Session Speeches 38 The powerful reinforcement of large-range aircraft..which were sent..to the Western Approaches are now active. 1961G. Foulser Seaman's Voice ii. 33 Western Ocean gales are notorious for their ferocity. 1976Mariner's Mirror LXII. 177 Sometimes homeward-bound convoys would be routed away from the Western Approaches, the Bay of Biscay, and the English Channel. 1976Scotsman 15 Dec., The rents of the 2000 local authority houses in the Western Isles are to be increased by {pstlg}39 a year from April. 1979N. & Q. Feb. 44/2 We can now be fairly certain that John Wilkes..also made a journey to the Western Islands of Scotland.
b. of the sky or the horizon, esp. as the place of the sun's setting; also of the sun, or the evening star (cf. west a. 1).
1591Shakes. Two Gent. v. i. 1 The Sun begins to guild the westerne skie. 1596Spenser F.Q. v. ix. 35 As the bright sunne, what time his fierie teme Towards the westerne brim begins to draw. 1633P. Fletcher Purple Isl. vi. lxxvii, But see, the stealing night, with softly pace, To flie the Westerne Sunne, creeps up the East. 1667Milton P.L. x. 92 Now was the Sun in Western cadence low From Noon. 1718Prior Solomon ii. 370 The Sun declin'd had shot his Western Ray. 1747Collins Ode to Evening ii, The bright-hair'd Sun Sits in yon western Tent. 1805Scott Last Minstr. iii. xxiv, Her blue eyes sought the west afar, For lovers love the western star. 1853A. Smith Life-Drama iv. Poems (1854) 60 From yonder trees I've seen the western sky All washed with fire. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. xxi. 146 The sun was near the western horizon.
c. Of or belonging to the west; found or produced in the west.
1590Shakes. Mids. N. ii. i. 166 Yet markt I where the bolt of Cupid fell. It fell vpon a little westerne flower. 1764Goldsm. Trav. 318 My genius spreads her wing, And flies where Britain courts the western spring. 1853Kane Grinnell Exp. xxi. (1856) 161 He himself would take the western search.
†d. Western barge (Western boat, or Western wherry), a barge, etc., used on the Thames westward of London. Hence Western bargee, Western pug, Western man, a navigator of a Western barge or boat.
1505–6Will of J. Rede (Somerset Ho.), My body..in the nyghte season..to be layde in..a bote or A westurne barge. 1591Lyly Endym. iv. ii, In a Westerne barge, when with a good winde and lustie pugges one may goe ten miles in two daies. 1592–1611 Western pug [see pug n.2 3]. 1603–4Act 1 Jas. I c. 16 §1 Westerne Barges Milboates and all other Vessells ordinarilie serving for other uses then the carryinge of Passengers. 1607Dekker & Webster West-w. Hoe ii. ii, The Lob has his Lasse,..the Westerne-man his Pug, [etc.]. 1666Western bargee [see bargee]. a1704T. Brown Walk Lond. & Westm. Wks. 1719 III. 324 A Western-Boat, stow'd with a Mixture of both Sexes. Ibid. 328 Others crowded into Boxes, like Passengers into a Western Wherry. Ibid. 329 He was a Western Bargeman.
e. in the specific names of animals or plants.
1784Pennant Arctic Zool. (1792) II. 289 Western Duck. Anas Stelleri, Pallas. 1824Stephens in Shaw Gen. Zool. XII. ii. 206 Western Pochard. (Fuligula dispar.) 1848Gould Birds Australia I. Pl. 12 Ieracidea occidentalis, Gould. Western Brown Hawk. 1876F. G. Waterhouse in Harcus S. Austral. 288 Western gerygone. Ibid. 292 Western ground parrakeet.
f. Western Front, the front in Belgium and northern France in the wars of 1914–18 and 1939–45.
[1914Parl. Deb. Written Answers (Commons) 12 Nov. 167 The British casualties in the Western area of the war up to 31st October are, approximately, 57,000. 1914M. Hankey Memo. 28 Dec. in M. Gilbert Winston S. Churchill (1972) III. Compan. i. 337 The remarkable deadlock which has occurred in the western theatre of war.] 1914Lloyd George Memo. 31 Dec. in Ibid. 352 These objects cannot be accomplished by attacks on the Western Front. 1915Times 7 Jan. 9/6 Lord Kitchener..explained that the operations on the Western front have for some time resolved themselves into a state of siege warfare. 1915A. Bennett (title) Over there: war scenes on the Western Front. 1917Weekly Dispatch 3 June 1/3 (heading) Mystery of the Western Front. 1939War Weekly 3 Nov. 35/1 The incalculable factor on the Western Front is the mind of Hitler. 1983P. A. Crowl Intelligent Traveller's Guide Historic Britain x. 502 What was lost were thirty-six Czech divisions delivered to Hitler free of charge at Munich plus a greatly improved German position on her western front.
g. Western American: = general American s.v. general a. 2 a.
1919G. P. Krapp Pronunc. of Standard Eng. in Amer. 147 If your own speech is of the Eastern American type, transcribe a passage illustrating it into Western American speech. 1925― Eng. Lang. in Amer. II. i. 30 The consonant r is more distinctly sounded in northern British and Western American. 1936Mencken Amer. Lang. (ed. 4) vii. 358 The chief characters of Western, or General American and of New England and Southern American have been indicated. 1959L. M. Myers Guide to Amer. Eng. (ed. 2) ii. 30 Three major dialect areas have long been recognised in American English—New England, Western or General American, and Southern. Linguistic geographers now prefer the terms Northern, Midland, and Southern.
h. Western European Union, an association formed in 1955 from the former Western Union, with the addition of Italy and (West) Germany, in order to coordinate defence and promote cooperation in economic matters and (until 1960) in social and cultural ones; abbrev. W.E.U. s.v. W 3; Western Union, an association of West European nations (Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom) which was formed in 1948 for purposes of military and economic cooperation and became the Western European Union in 1955.
1948E. Bevin in Hansard Commons 22 Jan. 390 The European Recovery Programme brought all this to a head, and made us all face up to the problem of the future organisation. We did not press the Western Union..in the hope that when we got the German and Austrian peace settlements, agreement between the Four Powers would close the breach between East and West. 1950Times 22 Aug. 4/6 About 50 squadrons of fighters and bombers will take part in the first Western Union air defence exercise. 1954Times 11 Nov. 8/7 Some of the preparations for bringing the Western European Union into existence have been made by a committee in London. 1973B. Cocks European Parliament viii. 67 The Assembly of the international organisation known as Western European Union has a close relationship with the Council of Europe since its entire membership is composed of the Representatives from the seven WEU countries to the Consultative Assembly. 1974P. Gore-Booth With Great Truth & Respect 351 Mr Brown has recounted the strategem he employed at a Ministerial Western Union meeting to ensure that the application was formally presented in a way that could not run into procedural objections. 1976J. Wheeler-Bennett Friends, Enemies & Sovereigns iv. 125 He..expressed considerable concern as to what the effect would be of Germany's rearmament in accordance with her membership of the European Defence Community (or, as it turned out to be, the Western European Union).
4. a. Of or pertaining to the Western or European countries or races as distinguished from the Eastern or Oriental. In mod. use also spec. (a) applied to the countries of western Europe that opposed Germany in the wars of 1914–18 and 1939–45; (b) of, pertaining to, or designating the non-Communist states of Europe and America.
1600Fairfax Tasso iv. xvi, These westren rebels, with your power withstand, Plucke vp these weedes, before they ouergroe The gentle garden of the Hebrewes land. 1601R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. (1603) 121 For such an other piece of ground..is not to be found againe in all our western world. 1704Atterbury Serm. (1726) I. 339 Those Conspiracies and Rebellions, with which they have..disturb'd the Quiet of this Western World. 1771C. Burney Pres. St. Mus. France & Italy (1773) 272 note, As yet there is no regular catalogue of the western MSS. in the Vatican library. 1839Penny Cycl. XIII. 307/1 The little intercourse that subsisted between the inhabitants of India and the Western nations. 1847Mrs. A. Kerr tr. Ranke's Hist. Servia 449 They who are desirous of ascertaining..the reaction of Eastern on Western affairs, may examine the Egyptian question. 1883T. Watts in 19th Cent. Mar. 413 The mystic type of all Eastern, and yet the mother of all Western, beauty.
(a)1914Times 23 Nov. 9/2 The appearance of Turkey as the ally of Germany and Austria against the Western Powers and Russia necessarily put an end to negotiations between Sofia and Constantinople. 1917I. F. Marcosson Rebirth of Russia viii. 141 German imperialism, after having defeated our Western Allies, will turn against us the whole power of its arms. 1938E. Ambler Cause for Alarm viii. 132 The Nazis and the Fascisti..agreed to present a united front to the Western powers. 1940Economist 13 Jan. 51/2 The outbreak of open hostilities between the U.S.S.R. and the Western Powers. 1974Encycl. Brit. Macropædia XIX. 958/1 The Russian Revolution of March..1917 dismayed the western Allies and delighted the Central Powers. Ibid. 1006/1 The western Allies' ‘Operation Overlord’..took place on June 6, 1944.
(b)1918Times 4 June 5/2 The greatest question in the world to-day is whether Russia is to be abandoned, or whether she is to be saved; whether Western ideals are to prevail in the country whose potential power will be the balance in history. 1947Ann. Reg. 1946 218 A pointed appeal to the Russian people to regard their two Western Allies [sc. Great Britain and the United States] as the only blot on the Soviet horizon. Ibid. 219 The need [of Russia] for an American loan and the consequent recognition of the desirability of making some concessions to the Western Powers. 1956B.B.C. Handbk. 1957 60 The jamming..of certain language transmissions of the BBC and other Western Bloc broadcasters. 1959Daily Tel. 18 Dec. 1 Expectations of some progress in Western politics rose in Paris to-night on the eve of the ‘Western Summit’ meetings which will take place here this weekend. 1982Ann. Reg. 1981 67 The fourth [proposal] called on the Soviet Union to accept Western plans for reducing the risks of surprise attack.
Comb.1880L. Wallace Ben-Hur 6 After years of residence with the Bedawin, the Western-born..will stop and wait the passing of the stately brute.
b. Western Church, the Latin as distinguished from the Greek or Eastern Church; also, one or other of the early Churches of Western Europe.
1628Bp. Hall Old Relig. viii. 72 The Westerne, or Romane Church. 1659H. Thorndike Wks. (1846) II. 557 Those controversies about which a settled division is once formed, as now in the western Church. 1838W. Palmer Ch. Christ I. 276 The Western churches..were in communion..with the great apostolical church of Rome. 1850Neale Hist. Eastern Ch. I. Introd. 9 The tendency of the Western Church..has been to embroil herself with the kings and kingdoms of this world.
c. Of or belonging to, connected with, characteristic of, the Western Church.
1699Burnet 39 Articles xxi. (1700) 201 All the First General Councils were made up for most part of Eastern Bishops; there being a very inconsiderable Number of the Western among any of them. 1755T. Amory Mem. (1769) I. 83 note, The eastern christians, called in contempt Arians by the western tritheists. 1790Priestley Gen. Hist. Chr. Ch. II. 311 The Western bishops in general and Liberius himself at their head, were the avowed advocates of the Nicene faith. 1850Neale Hist. Eastern Ch. I. 317 The whole body of Eastern and Western Liturgies may be divided into four branches. 1853C. Hardwick Chr. Ch., Mid. Age 265 Gregory VII., who seems to have expected that Crusades, while strengthening his throne, would tend to reunite the Eastern and the Western Christians. 1880A. P. Stanley in Fraser's Mag. May 600 The Roman Church..remains the great trunk from which the other communions have been divided in Western Christendom.
d. Western Empire, the more westerly of the two parts into which the Roman Empire was divided in 395 a.d. So Western emperor, etc.
1781Gibbon Decl. & F. xxvii. (1787) III. 38 Maximus would have obtained, without a struggle, the sole possession of the western empire. 1790Priestley Gen. Hist. Chr. Ch. II. 332 After the death of Constantine, the Western emperors were of the Nicene faith. 1840Milman Hist. Chr. iii. i. II. 343 In the Western provinces, Gaul, Spain, and Britain..the constitution of society was very different. 1865Bryce Holy Rom. Emp. 69 Odoacer..did not abolish the Western Empire as a separate power.
e. western man (also with either one or two initial capitals): man as shaped by the culture and civilization of Western Europe and North America.
1909Chesterton Orthodoxy i. 14 An active and imaginative life,..a life such as western man at any rate always seems to have desired. 1927Wyndham Lewis (title) Time and western man. 1962E. Cleaver in A. Dundes Mother Wit (1973) 10/2 The traditional judgments which Western Man has made..are now..the cause of very serious maladjustments in our society and..the world at large. 1970C. C. O'Brien Camus i. 27 The role often claimed for Camus, as an expression of the conscience of Western man. 1981Times Lit. Suppl. 20 Mar. 321/2 Edward Bond's cloudy gropings towards a view of Western man.
5. a. With States: Constituting the more westerly of the United States of America: cf. west n. 3 b.
1794T. Cooper Some Information respecting Amer. 8 These parts..furnish yearly a very considerable number of emigrants to the middle and western states. 1829Everett Orat. & Sp. (1850) I. 206 Allow me..to propose the following sentiment:—The Eastern and Western States. 1879W. Saunders Through Light Cont. 131 The conditions under which first-class stall-fed beef may be produced in the Western States.
b. Of or belonging to the Western States. western equine encephalitis or encephalomyelitis, a mosquito-borne viral encephalitis in the U.S., South America, and eastern Europe that affects chiefly horses but also people and is sometimes fatal, esp. to children; western roll (Athletics), a method of high-jumping in which the athlete jumps from the inside foot, swings up the other leg, and rolls across the bar on his side; Western saddle (see quot. 1946); western sandwich (N. Amer.), a sandwich in which the filling is an omelette containing onion and ham.
Freq. in the names of animals and plants resembling those of the Atlantic coast but whose habitat is west of the Mississippi.
1703in Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. (1838) 3rd Ser. VII. 61 Letters from Piscataqua come in the Western mail. 1784G. Washington Diary 4 Oct. (1925) II. 326 The Western Settlers—from my own observation—stand as it were on a pivot. 1834R. C. Sands Writings II. 179 One of the favorite and most expressive words of Western invention. 1835C. F. Hoffman Winter in West I. 284 Adding, in western phraseology, ‘The way in which folks'll stare, squire, will be a caution’. 1845P. B. St. John Trapper's Bride 69 The Eutaws reined in as the two hunters faced them with the deadly western rifle levelled in their direction. 1871Leisure Hour 336/1 A quality of tobacco, the ‘stemmed’ variety commonly called in the trade ‘Western Strips’. 1880Fraser's Mag. June 747 The changing conditions in agriculture caused by Western competition. 1929G. M. Butler Mod. Athletics viii. 108 (caption) The ‘western roll’. 1933Proc. Soc. Exper. Biol. & Med. XXXI. 217 (heading) A serological difference between Eastern and Western Equine Encephalomyelitis virus. 1946M. C. Self Horseman's Encycl. 346 The Western or cowboy saddle which is similar to that used..in all countries where men spend long hours in the saddle..is characterized by its deep seat, high cantle and pommel... The stirrups are set about midway and the cowboy rides with an almost straight leg. 1959M. Callaghan in R. Weaver Canad. Short Stories (1968) 2nd Ser. 8 He thought of having a western sandwich in the café across the road from the hotel. 1959Jrnl. Infectious Dis. CV. 295 A similar situation may exist with respect to western equine encephalitis infection in swine. 1961Canad. Jrnl. Microbiol. VII. 295 Western equine encephalitis has been a disease of public health importance in Saskatchewan since it was first recognized in 1935. 1964Western roll [see scissors n. pl. 2 b]. 1964M. McLuhan Understanding Media (1967) xxxi. 341 The varied and rough textures of Western saddles, clothes, hides. 1973D. Hughes Along Side Road xx. 155 He stopped to have a western sandwich and a cup of tea. 1976Western Mail (Cardiff) 27 Nov. (Advt.), Just arrived from America: New selection of Western saddles. 1978G. Wright Illustr. Handbk. Sporting Terms 23/3 The western roll is rarely practised today, the favoured methods being the straddle and the flop. 1983Amer. Rev. Respiratory Dis. CXXVII. 132/3 We report here a patient with western equine encephalitis who developed hypoventilation. 1983Amer. Jrnl. Trop. Med. & Hygiene XXXII. 1130 Culex tarsalis was a less competent vector of western equine encephalomyelitis (WEE) virus after 2–3 weeks' extrinsic incubation at 32°C than after incubation at 18° or 25°C.
c. western hemlock, a conifer, Tsuga heterophylla, native to the western coast of North America; also, its light brown timber; western red cedar, a large columnar conifer, Thuja plicata, native to western North America; also its reddish-brown timber; western white pine, a pine with grey-green needles, Pinus monticola, native to high ground in western North America; western yellow pine = ponderosa.
1869Amer. Naturalist III. 410 Western White Pine... I found scattered trees of this beautiful species on the highest parts of the Rocky Mountains. 1886J. Macoun Catal. Canad. Plants i. 461 J[uniperus] occidentalis, Hook. Western Red Cedar... I place all our western ‘red cedar’ under this species. Ibid. 471 T[suga] Mertensiana, Carr. Western Hemlock... In the Selkirk Mountains it is a tall, beautiful tree, over 150 feet high. 1901World's Work July 888/2 The wood of the western yellow pine..is used by them for mine timbers. 1905Bull. Bureau of Forestry (U.S. Dept. Agric.) lxvi. 33 The rock pine, western red cedar,..have, without doubt, come down from the Rocky Mountains. 1908N. L. Britton N. Amer. Trees 67 Western Hemlock..grows in rich, moist soil. 1923Western yellow pine [see heavy-wooded pine s.v. heavy a.1 30]. 1957Handbk. of Softwoods (Forest Products Res. Lab.) 22 Consignments of western hemlock frequently contain a percentage of fir. 1963Western hemlock [see kapur]. 1969Western red cedar [see red cedar a]. 1977Weekly Times (Melbourne) 19 Jan. 4/1 (Advt.), The following is included in your kit: Council plans and specifications, flooring,..glazed Western Red Cedar windows, [etc.]. 1978W. H. Harlow et al. Textbk. Dendrology (ed. 6) 66 Western white pine was first observed along the banks of the Columbia and Spokane Rivers in 1831.
d. (Also with capital initial.) Applied to the films and novels called ‘westerns’ (see sense B. 4 below). orig. U.S.
[1909Moving Picture World 6 Nov. 638 The success of their Western series of last year was abundantly satisfying and added greatly to the reputation of the firm. Ibid., Western subjects, in which the wild and woolly plays the leading part, have won immense popularity.] 1910Ibid. 21 May 834/1 It is almost impossible to criticize these Wild Western films, because cowboys are likely to do almost anything. 1913Moving Picture Ann. 1912 29 Many film makers still turn out great quantities of so-called Western and Indian pictures. 1931Ann. Reg. 1930 49 Garry [sic] Cooper has revived the popularity of Western pictures. 1959News Chron. 5 Aug. 6/4 Many Western novels are abominably written. 1967M. Argyle Psychol. Interpersonal Behaviour i. 28 An indirect form of aggression will occur, which may consist of..mere aggression in fantasy, such as watching western films or wrestling matches. 1974Encycl. Brit. Micropædia X. 624/2 The western film can be dated from The Great Train Robbery (1905).
6. Directed towards the west; facing westward.
1589Hakluyt Voy. To Rdr. ⁋7 Touching the westerne Nauigations, and trauailes of ours, they succeede naturallie in the thirde and last roome. 1706London & Wise Retir'd Gard'ner I. 21 Of the Western Aspect... The Western Exposition begins at half an Hour after Eleven, and continues 'till the Sun sets. 1713Addison Guard. No. 107 ⁋8 A ship at sea has no certain method, in either her eastern or western voyages,..to know her Longitude. 1766Midnight Spy vi. 52 The passengers on the western road must furnish him with his demands. 1784Filson Kentucky (1793) 13 Salt river..runs a western course near ninety miles. 1795Cowper Moralizer Corrected 18 Distant a little mile he spied A western bank's still sunny side. 1819Keats Eve of St. Mark 6 And on the western window panes, The chilly sunset faintly told Of unmatur'd green vallies cold. 1886Lond. Society Aug. 128 Hunstanton..is the only watering-place on the east coast of England with a western aspect.
7. fig. Of a person's life or days: Declining.
1615T. Tomkis Albumazar v. vi, Fye, that a gentleman..Crown'd with such reputation in your youth, Should in your Westerne dayes, loose th' good opinion Of all your friends. 1879Longfellow in Life (1891) III. 299 We, who are on the western side of life, must forget ourselves a little, and see with their eyes, who are looking out at the eastern windows.
8. Hinder, posterior. Cf. west adv. 1 b (c).
1829Marryat F. Mildmay xxiv, What have you done to the western side of your gown? 1840Haliburton Clockm. Ser. iii. ix, I'd a-kicked them till I kicked their western eends up to their shoulders.
9. Comb. (chiefly in sense 4 a), as western-educated, western-European, western-style, western-trained, western-type adjs.
1933N. Waln House of Exile i. vi. 96 A Western educated woman doctor. 1974M. Fido R. Kipling 50/2 Kipling['s]..generation made ‘Bengali’ almost a synonym for ‘western-educated Indian’, and always used the word with a touch of contempt.
1949M. Mead Male & Female vi. 132 Almost any Balinese male placed in a series of western-European males would look ‘feminine’. 1969‘E. Lathen’ When in Greece ii. 17 Greece..was an associate in the Common Market, which would bring every Western European banker into the picture.
1895Montgomery Ward Catal. Spring & Summer 330/1 Three-Horn Western Style Side Saddle. 1953Archit. Rev. CXIV. 255/2 Peking of course offers a complete contrast to such cities as Shanghai where large areas have been covered with western-style multi-storey buildings. 1977P. Johnson Enemies of Society xi. 160 The abolition of western-style academic research, and the substitution of acupuncture for standard medical practice.
1962E. Snow Other Side of River (1963) xlii. 309 Since 1958 all Western-trained doctors have been required to devote at least six months to the study of Chinese medicine.
1958Times 13 Aug. 12/4 In West Africa they hold to the traditional styles, though the more sophisticated often keep western-type frocks in their wardrobe.
B. n.
1. A member of a Western race; a native or inhabitant of the West, as distinguished from an Oriental or Asiatic.
1708Ockley Hist. Saracens (1848) 337 The folly of the Westerns in despising the wisdom of the Eastern nations. 1863Smith's Dict. Bible II. 295/2 (Medicine) He [Hippocrates] extols the discernment of Orientals above Westerns, and of Asiatics above Europeans, in medical diagnosis. 1882J. Neil Palestine 44 The former figure ‘wings of the morning’ to a Western is not a little obscure. 1884Athenæum 12 Jan. 54/3 It may not be altogether superfluous to remind Westerns that Russia is now celebrating the three hundredth anniversary of her first printer, Ivan Fedorof. 1917T. R. Glover From Pericles to Philip vii. 218 The employment of the camel in war strikes the Western oddly.
2. A member of the Western or Latin Church.
1860W. Bright Hist. Ch. 313–451, 50 Among the bishops who had received the sympathy of the Westerns was Paul of Constantinople. 1865Pusey Truth Engl. Ch. 60 S. Basil..blamed the Westerns for their ‘pride, haughtiness, precipitancy’. 1902H. K. Mann Hist. Popes I. i. 30 Despite the express declaration of Justinian..some of the Westerns persisted in maintaining [etc.].
3. U.S. An inhabitant or native of the Western States.
1846G. Warburton Hochelaga II. 22 There were Southerners and Northerners, Downeasters, and Westerns. 1888Bryce Amer. Commw. iii. lxv. II. 480 He was a raw rude Western, a man of the people.
4. (Also with capital initial.) A film or novel belonging to a distinct genre in which life in the American West in the nineteenth century is portrayed, usu. through idealized stock situations and characters, esp. cattlemen (cowboys) and gun-fights. Cf. sense A. 5 d above. orig. U.S.
1912Moving Picture World 27 July 306 (Advt.), ‘The Fight at The Mill’... A powerful Western, distinctly unusual among typical ‘Westerns’ containing a beautiful story and a dashing Indian battle that will interest and instruct. 1915[see supe]. 1918Wells Fargo Messenger VI. 178/1 What would the good old ‘Western’ be without the historic Wells Fargo stage coach and its treasure box? 1923Time 11 June 15/1 Love stories are their first choice, comedies second, society life as known to the De Mille brothers third, and then come the Westerns. 1927Sat. Rev. Lit. 15 Oct. 232 (Advt.), The Gun-Slinger by George M. Johnson. A Western with the kick of a .45. 1930Publishers' Weekly 8 Feb. 689 (Advt.), Five sure⁓shot Westerns... Salesmen and booksellers everywhere report to us a keen and growing demand for this type of story. 1954E. E. Cummings Let. 9 Mar. (1969) 227 ‘William S. Hart’ was a vastly popular..hero of our early Westerns: i.e. melodramatic movies featuring terrific battles between noble & wicked hardriding sharpshooting super cowboys. 1958Listener 9 Jan. 60/1 Twenty-five per cent of the best television time is still given over to ‘Westerns’. 1962L. Deighton Ipcress File xviii. 110 On the army table were a few books; German grammar..two paperback westerns. 1977B. Pym Quartet in Autumn xviii. 171 Watching a Western on the other channel.
C. adv. Equestrianism. In the manner of a cowboy; in a relaxed style with a deep-seated saddle and almost straight legs.
1972Country Life 5 Oct. 817/1 In a year Lady Sarah was so used to riding Western that she found it almost strange to revert to English for hunting. 1980Times 28 June 13/7 Riding western is not like riding Badminton style.
Sense 9 in Dict. becomes 10. Add: [A.] 9. Biochem.Western blotting (also with lower-case initial) [punningly after *Southern n.2] an adaptation of the Southern blot procedure for the identification of specific peptide and amino-acid sequences; Western blot, Western blotting (usu. attrib.); also, a blot (*blot n.1 1 f) obtained by this method. Also ellipt. as Western.
1981W. N. Burnette in Analytical Biochem. CXII. 196/1 With due respect to Southern..the established tradition of ‘geographic’ naming of transfer techniques (‘Southern’, ‘Northern’) is continued; the method described in this manuscript is referred to as ‘Western’ blotting. Ibid. 201/1 Figure 5 is the Western blot of the 2-DGE of E{male}G2 and C3H cell lysates. 1985Sci. Amer. Dec. 60/3 The routine ELISA..test for AIDS and..the more definitive Western-blot confirmatory test. 1989Brit. Med. Jrnl. 22 July 225/3 The presence of HIV antibody was confirmed by western blot analysis. 1991Nature 18 Apr. p. xxxvi (Advt.), Watch a one minute Western.
▪ II. † western, n.2 Obs.
[Old Northumbrian wœ́stern, var. of OE. wœ́sten, wésten, f. the stem *wōst-: cf. weste a. The ending -ern for -en(n also appears in éfern even n., fæstern fasten n. and *lenctern Lenten n.]
A desert, wilderness.
c950Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. iii. 1 In woestern iudeæ [in deserto iudaeae]. Ibid. Mark viii. 4 On woestern [in solitudine]. c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 129 Ich am his steuene þe remeð in þis westerne. Ibid., For þi is þis westren forgrouwen mid brimbles and mid þornes. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xviii. (Egipciane) 1298 Ȝarne he lukyt one ilke syd of þat westerne, brad & wyd.
▪ III. † western, n.3 Obs.
Also 6 westorne.
[Of obscure origin.]
The sand-martin, Cotile riparia.
1556Withals Dict. (1562) 5/2 A westorne or marten, whiche breedeth in water bankes, riparia. 1589Rider Bibl. Schol. i. 1702 Birds, A Marten, or westerne. Ibid. 1705 A westorne, vide marten. 1668Charleton Onomast. 90 Hirundo Riparia..the Sand, or Bank Marten, or Western.
▪ IV. ˈwestern, v.
[f. western a.]
intr. Of the sun: To decline in the west. (Cf. wester v. 1.) Hence ˈwesterning ppl. a.
1851Pugin Chancel Screens 83 The warm tints of a westerning sun. 1904Daily Chron. 28 Oct. 5/4 The sun was rapidly westerning. |