southv.
/saʊθ/, U.S. /saʊθ/ 1. intransitive. Of a celestial object: to reach the southern section of the meridian circle; (also) to show apparent movement towards the south. Cf. southing n. 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > movement over, across, through, or past > [verb (intransitive)] > across > a meridian
south1715
1715 H. Wilson Navigation new Modell’d 220 It is commonly known, that the New Moon being in Conjunction with the Sun, souths at Noon.
1828 Moore's Pract. Navigator (ed. 20) 140 The minutes after noon when she [sc. the moon] souths.
1883 R. A. Proctor Great Pyramid iii. 125 It [sc. the star] must have been visible to the naked eye, even when southing in full daylight.
1909 E. Hutton Rome xxvii. 296 Early in the morning too, before the sun has southed.
1980 P. O'Brian Surgeon's Mate ix. 228 Suppose you..found that the sun southed at five minutes after twelve, you would know that you were almost exactly on the meridian of Winchester.
ΚΠ
1725 D. Defoe New Voy. round World i. 189 I took the Occasion..to keep still on Southing.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > aspects of travel > travel in specific course or direction > direct one's course [verb (intransitive)] > to specific point of compass
south1823
north1850
west1889
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > wind > blow (of the wind) [verb (intransitive)] > blow from a particular quarter > change direction > in specific direction
wester1580
veer1582
souther1635
northera1665
backen1800
south1823
southern1859
back1860
1823 Times 8 Jan. 3/2 The vessel carried some sail when she struck, and the wind southing, threw her occasionally on her beam-ends towards shore.
1898 J. M. Falkner Moonfleet xi About sun-down the wind southed a point or two.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2011; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
southadv.adj.n.prep.
/saʊθ/, U.S. /saʊθ/α. Old English suðor (comparative), Old English suut (rare), Old English svþ, Old English svð, Old English–early Middle English suð, Old English (rare)–Middle English sud, Old English–Middle English suþ, Old English–1500s suth, late Old English syð, early Middle English sout, early Middle English suht, early Middle English sut, Middle English soþ, Middle English soth, Middle English souȝth, Middle English souht, Middle English souþ, Middle English souþe, Middle English sowde, Middle English sowt, Middle English sowte, Middle English sowþe, Middle English suþe, Middle English suthe, Middle English suþþe, Middle English zouþ (Kent), Middle English–1500s southe, Middle English–1500s sowth, Middle English–1500s sowthe, Middle English– south, late Middle English sauth, late Middle English sowre (transmission error), 1500s sough- (in compounds), 1500s soughe, 1500s soyth (northern); Scottish pre-1700 soith, pre-1700 soucht, pre-1700 sout, pre-1700 southe, pre-1700 southt, pre-1700 souyth, pre-1700 souythe, pre-1700 sovit, pre-1700 sovth, pre-1700 sovtht, pre-1700 sowith, pre-1700 sowt, pre-1700 sowth, pre-1700 sowthe, pre-1700 sowtht, pre-1700 sowyth, pre-1700 suth, pre-1700 sutht, pre-1700 suyth, pre-1700 swth, pre-1700 swtht, pre-1700 swyt, pre-1700 1700s– south, 1800s soud- (in compounds), 1800s– sooth, 1900s– sood (Shetland).
β. (Chiefly in compounds) early Middle English su, 1500s (1900s– English regional) sow, 1600s so, 1600s– sou, 1700s– sou', 1900s– soo (Scottish).
Also (esp. as noun) with capital initial, and represented by the abbreviations S, S. (with point), Sth, Sth. (with point). A. adv.
1. In the direction of the part of the horizon on the right-hand side of a person facing the rising sun; towards or in the direction of the point or pole on the earth's surface which lies on the earth's axis of rotation and at which the heavens appear to turn clockwise about a point directly overhead; towards the magnetic pole near this point, to which a compass needle points. south by west, etc.: see by prep. 9b.
a. With reference to direction, orientation, motion, or extent.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > direction > cardinal points > South > [adverb]
southeOE
southrighteOE
southwardeOE
southwardseOE
southenOE
downwarda1387
south'ard1485
south side1489
southlya1552
downwards1577
southerly1577
southwardly1579
southernly1594
south-by1762
a-south1807
south-away1816
downbound1880
southbound1891
eOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Parker) anno 893 Þa þe suð ymbutan foron ymbsæton Exancester.
OE Metrical Charm: For Loss of Cattle (Harl. 585) 10 Gebide þe þonne þriwa suð and cweþ þriwa: Crux Christi ab austro reducat.
lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) anno 1092 Se cyng Willelm mid mycelre fyrde ferde norð to Cardeol..& syððan hider suð gewænde.
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 1067 Locrines mær eode suð & east forð.
c1300 St. Brendan (Laud) l. 520 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 234 (MED) So longe huy wenden euene south þat huy i-seiȝen at þen ende One harde roche In þe se.
c1330 Sir Degare (Auch.) l. 61 in W. H. French & C. B. Hale Middle Eng. Metrical Romances (1930) 289 (MED) Þe wode was rough and þikke, iwis, And þai token þe wai amys, Þai moste souht, and riden west Into þe þikke of þe forest.
c1440 (?a1400) Morte Arthure l. 1039 Thow moste seke more southe, sydlynngs a lyttil.
1487 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) xvi. 265 Syne thai..sowth till lwnyk held thair way.
1539 Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 454 Fra the said croce rycht south to the Mercat-gait.
1560 Bible (Geneva) Exod. xxvi. 18 Thou shalt make boardes for the Tabernacle, euen twentie boardes on the Southe side, euen ful Southe.
?1574 W. Bourne Regiment for Sea xiii. sig. K.iijv In sayling directly south or North, you do raise or lay the Pole a degree in .60. myles going.
1615 T. Tomkis Albumazar ii. iii. sig. D3v In my conscience All windowes poynt full South for such a businesse.
c1650 J. Spalding Memorialls Trubles Scotl. & Eng. (1850) I. 27 Mynding to lodge thair all nicht be the get going south.
1693 J. Evelyn tr. J. de La Quintinie Compl. Gard'ner i. ii. vi. 30 When we say that a Garden lyes full South, it is when the Sun shines upon it all the day.
1728 R. Castell Villas of Ancients Illustr. 100 This House did not face full South.
1753 T. Woodroofe in J. Hanway Hist. Acct. Brit. Trade Caspian Sea I. lix. 397 Steering south and south by west.
1781 W. Falconer Remarks on Infl. Climate i. ix. 37 If we go from the Equator again to the South Pole, we shall find drunkenness travelling south.
1816 W. Scott Black Dwarf viii, in Tales of my Landlord 1st Ser. I. 154 As if the devil was blawing us south.
1829 B. A. Simon Hope of Israel 80 The red-cabin looks north, and the second holy square enclosure looks south.
1855 D. T. Ansted in Orr's Circle Sci.: Inorg. Nature 147 The inclination is sometimes north, and sometimes south.
1880 J. Ruskin Bible of Amiens (1884) i. 32 Clovis' march south against the Visigoths.
1916 T. A. Gopinatha Rao Elem. Hindu Iconogr. II. i. 273 Śiva was seated facing south when he taught the rishis yōga and jñāna.
1921 Amer. Woman Jan. 8/4 He had headed south in his racer with the vague idea of getting away from himself.
1967 A. S. Byatt Game iv. 43 Any decision to return south was postponed because the roads were impassable.
2005 Trav. Afr. Autumn 48/2 The dry..deciduous woodlands that run south for a thousand miles.
b. With reference to place, location, or relative position. See also down South adv.
ΚΠ
eOE Metres of Boethius (partly from transcript of damaged MS) (2009) x. 24 Þeah eow nu gesæle þæt eow suð oððe norð þa ytmestan eorðbuende on monig ðiodisc miclum herien.
OE Beowulf (2008) 858 Monig oft gecwæð þætte suð ne norð..oþer nænig under swegles begong selra nære rondhæbbendra.
a1350 in G. L. Brook Harley Lyrics (1968) 52 Wheþer y be souþ oþer west.
c1400 ( G. Chaucer Treat. Astrolabe (Cambr. Dd.3.53) (1872) i. §17. 9 Tak kep of thise latitudes north and sowth.
a1475 Sidrak & Bokkus (Lansd.) (Ph.D. diss., Univ. of Washington) (1965) l. 5833 (MED) Whanne þe fulle mone stondiþ southe, Þe sunne is north; þis is wel couthe.
1575 T. Newton tr. C. A. Curione Notable Hist. Saracens i. f. 26 Numidia called in ye Arabian tongue Biledulgerid,..lyeth South from the mountain Athlas.
1591 G. Fletcher Of Russe Common Wealth xix. f. 65 v The Chrim Tartar..that lieth South, and Southeastward from Russia.
1597 W. Shakespeare Richard III v. iv. 14 His regiment, lies halfe a mile..South from the mightie power of the king. View more context for this quotation
c1650 J. Spalding Memorialls Trubles Scotl. & Eng. (1850) I. 27 The Erll..wes at this tym south.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost xi. 401 The Realme Of Congo, and Angola fardest South . View more context for this quotation
1769 W. Falconer Universal Dict. Marine at Wind Coming to the latitude of four degrees south.
1866 J. Lindley & T. Moore Treasury Bot. I. 210/2 The plant..is found..from latitude 40° to 44° south.
1976 D. Blood Rocky Mountain Wildlife i. i. 30 The Subalpine Forest zone which provides northwoods habitat as far south as New Mexico.
2000 J. Cummings World Food: Thailand 19 Agricultural communities in Surat Thani and further south also became active during this period.
c. With of.
ΚΠ
1577 W. Harrison Hist. Descr. Islande Brit. ii. i. f. 51v/1, in R. Holinshed Chron. I The Garan or Crane meetyng with the Midway south of Yallyng.
1604 E. Grimeston tr. True Hist. Siege Ostend 147 An other of the Kings shippes called the answer, whereof Bredgate was Captaine, who ridde at an Anchor South of the Downes.
1663 E. Waterhouse Fortescutus Illustratus xxii. 300 A Valley South of Ierusalem, in the possession of Hinnom an eminent Iebusite.
1707 J. Chamberlayne Present State Great Brit. (1710) 344 Rum lies 4 Leagues South of Sky.
1771 Encycl. Brit. III. 942/1 Williamstat [is]..fourteen miles south of Rotterdam.
1836 T. Power Impressions of Amer. II. 211 This little city [sc. Mobile] was to me one of the most attractive spots I visited south of the Potomac.
1869 Ann. Rep. Commissioner Agric. 1868 71 in U.S. Congress. Serial Set (40th Congr., 3rd Sess.: House of Representatives Executive Doc.) XV The value of marling south of New Jersey.
1914 Daily News 5 June 6 I..hauled myself up again, and with wibbly knees crossed to the bushes south of the track.
1959 N. Mailer Advts. for Myself (1961) 346 I went with my wife and my friend..to a cold-water pad, south of the village.
2000 M. de Villiers Water (new ed.) ii. x. 176 The Danube..passes south of Bucharest to its delta at Sulina.
2. With reference to the wind: from the south.
ΚΠ
1580 J. Florio tr. J. Cartier Shorte Narr. Two Nauigations Newe Fraunce 12 The nexte daye being the last of the moneth saue one, the winde blewe South and by East.
1592 N. Gyer Eng. Phlebotomy viii. 85 In winter the wind blow South.
1626 F. Bacon Sylua Syluarum §626 In a Faire and Dry Day,..And when the Wind bloweth not South.
a1670 J. Hacket Cent. Serm. (1675) 650 You can make no rules for the Wind, why it should blow South to day, and North to morrow.
1709 J. Browne Ess. True Idea Fund. in Physick xi. 75 The Air too hot, as in Summer-time, or when the Wind blows South.
1764 W. Falconer Shipwreck (new ed.) ii. 51 South and by West the threatening tempest blows.
1867 C. Swain Songs & Ballads 50 The clouds were rolling fleet, And the wind was blowing south.
1882 R. Jefferies Bevis II. ix.130 In the morning the wind blew south, coming down the length of the New Sea.
1921 Pop. Mech. May 751 There was a strong wind blowing south through the valley.
1964 T. Williams In Winter of Cities 83 The wind blew south, and forever the birds, like ashes, lifted away from that hot center.
2004 V. Strauss Burning Land xxiv. 485 The wind blew south,..drawing the smoke like a veil across the scene.
3. colloquial (originally Stock Market). Downward or lower in value, price, or quality; in or into a worse condition or position. Esp. in to head (also go) south. south of: lower than, worse than.
ΚΠ
1920 Elgin (Illinois) Dairy Rep. 13 Nov. Meat, grains and provisions generally, are like Douglas Fairbanks, headed south—in other words, going down.
1975 Business Week 14 Apr. 63/2 If the market is headed South..there is a point beyond which information and growth prospects are meaningless.
1986 Financial Times (Nexis) 5 July i. 6 With oil heading south of $10..the London stock market today stands less than 4 per cent below its highest ever level.
1996 N.Y. Times 6 Oct. f13 If the market turns south, Mr. Kim concedes he would sell to cut his losses.
2003 R. B. Parker Stone Cold (2004) xl. 154 But your marriage went south and you had a drinking problem.
2006 Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.) (Nexis) 15 Sept. 10 The young Cardinal defense has looked somewhere south of awful.
B. adj. Recorded earliest (in Old English) in compounds of the uninflected (originally adverb) stem; see etymological note.
1. With proper names or their derivatives.
a. Designating the southern division of a people or nation; (in later use also) designating an inhabitant of the southern part of a country, region, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > nations > native or inhabitant of specific region > [adjective] > southern people
southernOE
southOE
southernly1620
south-east1959
OE Beowulf (2008) 463 Þanon he gesohte Suð-Dena folc ofer yða gewealc.
OE tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. (Cambr. Univ. Libr.) Pref. ii. 4 Fela he me sæde ymbe Suðseaxe & embe Westseaxe.
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 3713 Guærtaæt. þe mode mid þon Suð Walscen.
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1876) VI. 153 In þe fiȝting of þe Souþ Saxons aȝenst Cedwalla.
?1530 J. Rastell Pastyme of People sig. D.ii Cadwalleder made war vppon Ethelwold kyng of South saxons.
1577 R. Holinshed Hist. Eng. 176/1 in Chron. I The countrey of the South Mercies,..separated from the North Mercies by the riuer of Trente.
1643 R. Baker Chron. Kings of Eng. i. 6 The second Kingdome of the Heptarchie, was of the South Saxons.
1727 D. Scott Hist. Scotl. iii. 78 Oswald liv'd several Years in Peace, till Penda King of the South Saxons or Marchis invaded him.
1794 J. Belknap Amer. Biogr. I. xiv. 363 The South Virginians had also made other regulations in the management of their business.
1808 J. Jamieson Diss. in Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. I. 21 The Romans..conquered the South-Britains.
1862 G. Borrow Wild Wales lxvii The old chap who disliked South Welshmen.
1933 ‘E. Cambridge’ Hostages to Fortune iii. vi. 184 The huge, ramshackle vicarage was full of foreign students, slow south Germans, French boys from Rennes, polylingual Swedes.
1971 Guardian 12 July 7/2 Guiding bewildered Irishmen and rooted South Londoners through the intricacies of Notting Hill Gate.
1972 H. M. Anderson & L. J. Blake John Shaw Neilson 13 More than one South Australian had ‘done a moonlight flit’ across the border and left debts.
2004 Daily Tel. 19 Apr. 3/5 Being a south Indian, she gave us her own recipes for raw mango curry and meen moilee, a fish dish.
b. Designating the southern part of a place, region, town, etc., or the more southerly of two places, etc., with the same name, often forming the recognized name of a political or administrative division.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > direction > cardinal points > South > [adjective] > part or place
southeOE
southOE
southland1488
south side1726
OE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Tiber. B.i) anno 980 On þam ylcan geare wæs Suðhamtun forhergod fram scipherige & seo burhwaru mæst ofslegen & gehæft.
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1978) l. 14935 Of Suð Wales [was] Margadud monnen alre uæȝerest.
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1869) II. 75 Tweye citees þere beeþ, eiþer hatte Caerlegioun and Caerleoun also; oon is Demecia in Souþ Wales.
?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) ii. 3 (MED) At the fiftend day þei samned at Southamptone.
?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) (1996) i. l. 4317 Of south Wales com Ignertet.
1577 R. Willes in R. Willes & R. Eden tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Hist. Trauayle W. & E. Indies f. 230v Betwyxt the West Indie or South America, and the South continent.
1600 J. Pory tr. J. Leo Africanus Geogr. Hist. Afr. iii. 168 What time they were lordes of Granada in south Spaine.
1646 E. Bowles Manifest Truth 9 The Fort at South-Shields, though not gotten sine sanguine, was lost sine sudore.
1691 Predict. Nostradamus 6 The Garonne in the third Verse determines the signification of About the Pyrenæans to any part of South-France Eastward.
1718 Act 5 Geo. I c. 11 §16 The importation of Tar and Pitch from North-Britain into any part of South-Britain.
1756 P. Browne Civil & Nat. Hist. Jamaica ii. iii. 467 The Cardinal. This bird is frequently imported here from South Carolina.
1784 A. Smith Inq. Wealth of Nations (ed. 3) III. v. iii. 119 From the port of Sallee, in south Barbary, to Cape Rouge.
1816 W. Scott Black Dwarf i, in Tales of my Landlord 1st Ser. I. 27 What news from the south hie-lands?
1835 Penny Cycl. III. 25/2 The South Atlantic Ocean does not offer any other peculiarity in its formation, but the Northern is distinguished by several.
1839 Farmer's Monthly Visitor 20 Sept. 131/2 We would recommend the delightful village of South Berwick near the line of New Hampshire.
1885 Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 119/1 When the ‘Challenger’ was cruising in the South Pacific..the water was found to be uniformly warmer than the air.
1892 Harper's Mag. May 906/2 In South Dakota..there are already more than 50 high-pressure wells.
1946 Whitaker's Almanack 783/2 South Georgia is permanently inhabited and is an important seat of the whaling industry.
1948 Times 11 May 3/3 The Communists continued with their campaign to keep the population of South Korea from voting in today's elections.
1966 Times 22 Jan. 7/1 The new anti-British militant ‘Front for the Liberation of Occupied South Yemen’ (F.L.O.S.Y.).
2005 M. M. Frisby Wifebeater vi. 32 They started hiking up prices in that section of South Philly like the celebrities were flocking to live there.
c. With adjectives.
ΚΠ
1612 M. Drayton Poly-olbion xi. 176 The high descent of that South-Saxon King.
1839 Dublin Rev. May 449 ‘Read Mr. James's book,’ said a South Australian colonist to the writer of this article.
1862 G. Borrow Wild Wales lxvii Anybody may know you are South Welsh by your English.
1936 A. W. Clapham Romanesque Archit. W. Europe iv. 81 The system of barrel-vaults without direct lighting of the aisled nave is general in the south-French school.
1958 T. Hickinbotham Aden xii. 196 The South Arabian League which originally advocated union between the Colony and the Protectorate.
1979 Guardian 5 Nov. 11/6 The marvellous Tipi cover by South Dakotan Sioux braves.
2009 Southern Star (Brisbane) (Nexis) 1 Apr. 15 The close-knit band..serve up a sound they describe as south Californian punk mixed with alternative and traditional rock.
2. Situated in the south or on the southern side of something. Cf. southdeal n., south end n., south half n., south side n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > direction > cardinal points > South > [adjective] > part or place
southeOE
southOE
southland1488
south side1726
eOE tr. Orosius Hist. (BL Add.) (1980) i. i. 10 Hiera suþgemæro licgeað to þæm Readan Sæ.
OE Blickling Homilies 201 Hie þa ðær twa dura sceawodan on þære ciricean; ðær wæs seo suðduru hwæthwega hade mare.
OE Death of Alfred (Tiber. B.i) 25 Syððan hine man byrigde, swa him wel gebyrede, ful wurðlice, swa he wyrðe wæs, æt þam westende, þam styple ful gehende, on þam suðportice.
lOE Eadmer of Canterbury De Reliquiis Sancti Audoeni in Revue des Sciences Religieuses (1935) 15 365 Una [sc. one of the towers], quae in austro erat..habebat..in latere principale ostium aecclesiae, quod antiquitus ab Anglis et nunc usque Suthdure dicitur.
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1978) l. 13941 Biburied he wes þere..wið-uten þan suð ȝæte [c1300 Otho suþȝeate].
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Ezek. xlvi. 9 He that entrith by the waye of the south ȝate.
1473–4 Rolls of Parl.: Edward IV (Electronic ed.) Parl. Oct. 1472 2nd Roll §11. m. 13 .xv. acres of arable lond,..liyng in the southfeldes of the seid cite.
?c1475 in J. Gairdner Sailing Direct. (1889) 14 A south moone makith high watir.
1560 Gargrave in J. J. Cartwright Chapters Hist. Yks. (1872) 10 At Shefeld, wyche was the sowthyst parte of his commyssyon.
1644 in Sc. Jrnl. Topogr. (1847) 1 73 The Rebells..are betwixt vs and ye Path of Droone on ye south hand.
1738 Gentleman's Mag. Nov. 577/1 By taking her Meridian Altitudes, both North and South.
1792 J. Morse Amer. Geogr. (ed. 2) 253 The fort near the south end of the city.
1801 Farmer's Mag. Aug. 290 Elgin..situated on the south bank of the Lossie.
1842 Penny Cycl. XXIII. 217/1 Off the shore are the North and South roads.
1897 R. S. S. Baden-Powell Matabele Campaign xvii. 436 Lord Grey's party shot to northward of the road, and the south side was our preserve.
1956 A. L. Rowse Diary 14 Oct. (2003) 262 It was very exciting to the imagination, making our way uphill and in at the south gate.
1978 Sat. Night (Toronto) Dec. 75/1 As a type, Crombie with his Red Tory talk was as alien to those people as Evans was to the residents in the south end, where Liberal strength traditionally lies.
2006 A. Doukakis Aboriginal People p. xiv A branch of the Royal Mint opened in the South wing of the Rum Hospital.
3. Of a wind: blowing from the south, southerly. Also figurative.In quot. a1616: a fog blown in by a south wind.Recorded earliest in south wind n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > wind > [adjective] > from specific point of compass
southeOE
northeOE
northerneOE
easternOE
southernOE
south-easternOE
north-easternOE
westernOE
south-westernOE
southena1325
north-east1379
east-north-easta1398
east-south-easta1398
north-north-easta1398
north-westa1398
south-southeasta1398
south-westc1400
south-easta1425
nor'-westa1500
south-southwesta1522
north-westera1525
northerlya1544
southerly1550
south-southeast?1560
south-easterly1577
north-north-west1601
subprincipal1601
southernly1610
north-westerly1611
easternly1614
northernly1632
westwardly1653
northwardly1654
north-easterly1686
southwardly1693
southwesterly1703
eastling1725
south-southeasterly1803
westland1818
south-southwesterly1822
north-western1829
north-north-easterly1831
southwesterly1883
nor-nor-east1891
eOE Corpus Gloss. (1890) 23/1 Auster, suðuuind.
c1602 C. Marlowe tr. Ovid Elegies ii. viii. sig. C5v Thou Goddesse doest command a warme South-blast.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Cymbeline (1623) ii. iii. 128 The South-Fog rot him. View more context for this quotation
1774 W. Hutchinson Excursion to Lakes 64 A strong south breeze rendered the Lake so rough, that the surf broke over the bow.
1820 P. B. Shelley Orpheus 88 I have seen A fierce south blast tear through the darkened sky.
1847 A. Helps Friends in Council I. i. i. 4 The clang of an anvil..came faintly up to us when the wind was south.
1946 L. B. Lyon Rough Walk Home 28 Ask that for these may blow The hot south rage of life again.
1963 A. Mitra tr. R. Tagore Chaturanga iii. 64 The leaves seemed to whisper to each other in the south breeze.
2008 J. W. Joyce tr. Statius Thebaid iii. 60 The seaman..battles to get back as a south gale sweeps him along.
4. Of or belonging to the south; coming from the south.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > direction > cardinal points > South > [adjective] > quality
southerneOE
southOE
south sidea1693
OE Genesis A (1931) 2090 Abraham ferede suðmonna eft sinc.
OE tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. (Cambr. Univ. Libr.) i. xiv. 56 Æðelbyrht cyning..hæfde rice oð gemæro Humbre streames, se tosceadeð suðfolc Angelþeode & norðfolc.
1488 (c1478) Hary Actis & Deidis Schir William Wallace (Adv.) (1968–9) xii. l. 779 The South byschop..Till London past and tald Eduuard him sell.
1545 G. Joye Expos. Daniel (xi.) f. 183v This southe kinge one of Alexanders cheife capitains or dukes brought vp of a poore soldyer, was called Ptolomeus the great.
1596 H. Broughton Daniel sig. L (heading) A daughter of the South king being giuen to the Northren.
1616 Barbour's Actes & Life Bruce (Hart) 350 For the South men [1487 St. John's Cambr. southren men; 1489 Adv. sotheroun men] wald that he made Arest there.
1719 W. Wood Surv. Trade (ed. 2) 281 The Assiento Contract has excluded all the Subjects of Great Britain from Trading to New-Spain, but..the South-Company.
1821 W. Scott Kenilworth I. i. 28 For what says the south proverb.
1851 H. Morley Def. of Ignorance 76 In the reign of Richard II,there were ferocious conflicts between north and south men.
1920 J. M. Muir Short Hist. Brit. Commonw. I. ii. 16 Norfolk and Suffolk (the north folk and the south folk of the East Angles).
1973 Express (Trinidad & Tobago) 1 Feb. 17/1 Behind the move to promote female calypsonians is well-known south businessman, Mr. Lall Parsotan.
2003 G. Weiss Born to Steal 107 In the more eastern States people were closer in touch... And some of the South people too, like Tennessee.
5. Facing south; directed towards the south.
ΚΠ
1527–8 in H. Littlehales Medieval Rec. London City Church (1905) 343 A pane in oon of the sowth windowse.
1534 T. Paynell tr. Moche Profitable Treat. against Pestilence sig. A.iiiiv Yt is very good & profitable to recouer helthe, al sumtymes to change chambers, and to open the north and este wyndowes of the sickemans chambre, and to kepe the southe wyndowes therof close & shytte.
1642 T. Fuller Holy State iii. vii. 167 A South-window in summer is a chimny with a fire in't.
1797 Encycl. Brit. V. 30/2 A south wall..is proper for training them as wall-trees.
1842 J. C. Loudon Suburban Horticulturist 177 Walls having a south aspect.
1869 A. J. Evans Vashti xx. 265 Carnations and mignonette blooming in the south window.
1938 E. Bowen Death of Heart ii. iv. 238 The sun, slanting moltenly in at the south windows, laid a dusty nimbus over the furs.
1959 Home Encycl. 144 A shaded south aspect, free from draughts, is the satisfactory position.
1999 Rock & Gem Dec. 74/2 The famous Tramway Bar on the Koyukuk River..meanders along the south slope of the Brooks Range.
6. Of declination, direction, etc.: tending towards the south.
ΚΠ
?1574 W. Bourne Regiment for Sea vii. sig. H.ij If that the Sunne hathe South declination, you shall adde or put that declination vnto the heigth of the Sunne, whiche shall shewe vnto you the true heigth of the Equinoctiall.
1614 W. Jones Myst. Christes Nativitie sig. B3 In the shortest day is the Sunne in his greatest and lowest South declination.
1754 tr. J. N. de L'Isle Explan. Map of New Discov. South-Sea in tr. Let. from Russ. Sea-officer 68 The Russians traced the coast of this continent two days in a south direction.
1839 Penny Cycl. XIV. 141/1 The south declination of the sun.
1856 Proc. Geolog. Soc. 19 Mar. 257 The sand stones..occur in the course of the Annan at Johnston Bridge, and have a south inclination.
1886 C. E. Pascoe London of To-day (ed. 3) xxxiv. 303 Within a few steps of Hanover Square, in a south direction.
1922 D. Todd Astronomy xxxiii. 240 Mars in south declination and therefore passing through the zenith of places in corresponding south latitude.
1959 R. K. C. Johns in C. A. Whitten & K. H. Drummond Contemp. Geodesy 29/2 The lateral refraction in the south direction will be different as a rule from the refraction to the north.
2000 F. W. Price Planet Observer's Handbk. (ed. 2) x. 294 Saturn was difficult to observe during 1896-1900 owing to increasing south declination.
C. n.
1. The part of the horizon to the right of a person facing the rising sun; the direction of this; spec. the cardinal point corresponding to this.
a. Without definite article.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > direction > cardinal points > South > [noun]
southlandOE
southc1175
southc1300
southwarda1350
meridianc1386
middaya1425
meridional1550
southwards?1574
south'ard1624
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 11258 All þiss middell ærd iss ec O fowwre daless dæledd. Onn æst. o wesst. o suþ. o norrþ.
?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) ii. 19 (MED) Alle þe kynges..cleymed him [sc. Adelwolf] for þer chefe of West & of Est, Of North & of South, in length & in brede Fro Kent vntille Berwik.
c1400 ( G. Chaucer Treat. Astrolabe (Cambr. Dd.3.53) (1872) i. §15. 8 A longe croys in 4 quarters from est to West, fro sowth to north.
1488 (c1478) Hary Actis & Deidis Schir William Wallace (Adv.) (1968–9) xii. l. 777 Fra south and north mony off Scotland fled.
a1500 (c1425) Andrew of Wyntoun Oryg. Cron. Scotl. (Adv. 19.2.3) i. l. 553 Fra north on south þe streme it strekis.
?1592 Trag. Solyman & Perseda iii. iv Monarch and mightie Emperor of the world, From East to West, from South to Septentrion.
1625 N. Carpenter Geogr. Delineated i. vi. 135 The Meridians are drawne directly from North to South.
1671 J. Milton Paradise Regain'd iii. 272 To South the Persian Bay. View more context for this quotation
1748 D. Hume National Characters in Ess. Moral & Polit. (ed. 3) xxiv. 283 Most Conquests have gone from North to South.
a1822 P. B. Shelley Charles I ii, in Wks. (1870) II. 388 The rainbow hung over the city..from north to south.
1842 R. Browning Pied Piper of Hamelin in Bells & Pomegranates No. III: Dramatic Lyrics xiii He turned from South to West, And to Koppelberg Hill his steps addressed.
1939 Fortune Oct. 71/1 From north and south, from east and west, there came party hacks and politicians.
1975 Countryman Autumn 99 The whole garden slopes from west to east and, more considerably, from north to south.
2004 Church Times 16 Jan. 13/3 In the church where I am an assistant curate, we move from north to south at the high altar, and from south to north at the nave altar.
b. With definite article. Also with of.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > direction > cardinal points > South > [noun]
southlandOE
southc1175
southc1300
southwarda1350
meridianc1386
middaya1425
meridional1550
southwards?1574
south'ard1624
c1300 St. Kenelm (Laud) l. 12 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 345 (MED) A-bouten eiȝte hondret mile Engelond long is, Fran þe South into þe North.
c1350 Psalter (BL Add. 17376) in K. D. Bülbring Earliest Compl. Eng. Prose Psalter (1891) lxxvii. 30 (MED) God..bare ouer þe wynde of þe souþe [L. austrum] fram þe heuen.
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Ezek. xlvii. 1 To the south of the auter.
c1436 Domesday Ipswich (BL Add. 25011) in T. Twiss Black Bk. Admiralty (1873) II. 205 From..that lane toward the south of bothe partyes of the strete.
c1450 Alphabet of Tales (1904) I. 62 iij wyndows, ane at þe suthe, a noder at þe este, & þe iij at þe weste.
a1500 ( J. Yonge tr. Secreta Secret. (Rawl.) (1898) 221 Tho whyche dwellyth towarde the Sowthe..as thay of Ethiopy.
1577 B. Googe tr. C. Heresbach Foure Bks. Husbandry iii. f. 119v Therfore your stable must stand toward the south.
1610 P. Holland tr. W. Camden Brit. i. 244 Another brook from the South runneth into him.
1646 J. Greaves Pyramidographia 96 That huge, and admirable Corinthian pillar standing to the South of Alexandria.
1726 J. Thomson Winter 14 The nightly Winds..Blow, blustering, from the South.
1778 Encycl. Brit. II. 1222/1 A town..to the south of mount Atlas.
1837 P. Keith Bot. Lexicon 277 The whole mass of ears nodding, as if with one consent, to the south.
1863 Edinb. Rev. 66 The wide territory to the south of the wall of Severus..was thoroughly Romanized.
1879 W. E. Gladstone Gleanings Past Years VI. iii. 149 If, standing at the north end of the holy Table, he faces towards the south.
1928 R. H. Fuller Jubilee Jim i. i. 7 Next to that was the woodshed, overgrown with woodbine and facing the South, looking out upon the vegetable garden.
1970 D. Brown Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee xix. 441 He assigned them a camping area immediately to the south of the military camp.
2007 H. Svensmark & N. Calder Chilling Stars i. 32 The last time your compass would have pointed firmly to the south instead of the north was 780,000 years ago, before the event known as the Matuyama-Brunhes Reversal.
2. With singular agreement. The inhabitants of a southern region or district collectively.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > nations > native or inhabitant of specific region > [noun] > southern people
southc1300
southerna1387
c1300 Havelok (Laud) (1868) 434 Waried wrthe he of norþ and suth.
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1963) 1 Kings xxvii. 10 In whom felle þou on to dai? dauyd answerde, aȝens þe south of Jude & aȝens þe south of Iranyel.
c1620 A. Hume Of Orthogr. Britan Tongue (1870) i. vii*. §7 Nurice, from nutrix, quhilk the south calles nurse.
a1771 T. Gray Ess. I in W. Mason Mem. Life & Writings (1775) 197 The prostrate South to the Destroyer yields.
1837 W. E. Channing Annex. Texas in Wks. (1884) 541/2 Strange, that the South should think of securing its ‘peculiar institutions’ by violent means.
1861 Ld. R. Montagu Mirror Amer. 91 Between the North and South there will be feelings of implacable hatred.
1913 R. Kipling Let. Dec. in Ld. Birkenhead Rudyard Kipling (1978) xvi. 257 Which is the most [sic] dangerous enemy? The South playing a game it has not got its heart in, or the North in a blind rage?
1931 Times 19 Oct. 9/2 The High Master had referred to the manners of the North which the South thought could be improved.
1971 Jrnl. Contemp. Hist. 6 119 The South felt itself in the grip of an increasingly harsh and alien regime.
1974 D. Seaman Bomb that could Lip-read vii. 60 The whole attitude of the South baffled and angered him. Irish politics were beyond him.
1985 R. Waller Atlas Brit. Politics ix. i. 135/1 The affluent South..is reputed to have been responsible for the election of Thatcherite governments which reward success and penalise failure.
2002 A. Najam in S. R. Khan Trade & Environment iv. ix. 230 Whether the South likes it or not, environmental concerns will be an important determinant of future trade regulation.
3. With the. The southern part of a country or region.
a. With reference to Britain and Ireland.
(a) The southern part of England; (in later use) spec. the area below the southern boundaries of Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Warwickshire, Leicestershire, and Lincolnshire.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > named regions of earth > Europe > British Isles > England > [noun] > south of England
south endc1275
southc1325
south countrya1387
c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) l. 172 (MED) Fram þe souþ tilþ to þe norþ, erninge stret, & fram est to þe west, ykenilde stret.
?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) (1996) i. l. 2376 Þe duke of Cornwaile, þe south to hym gan he taile.
c1400 Brut (Rawl. B. 171) 26 (MED) Belyn..made iiij real waies, one..fram þe North into þe South, þat was callede Ikenyle strete.
1480 W. Caxton Descr. Brit. xv Men of the eest with men of the west accorde bet in sownyng of their speche, than men of the north with men of the south.
1552 J. Caius Bk. against Sweatyng Sicknesse f. 10 Chaucer's couercephe..written and pronounced comonly, kerchief in the south, & courchief in the north.
1590 W. Segar Bk. Honor & Armes iv. viii. 76 The Defender should be presentlie called to appeare by the Marshall of Herehaults in the South.
1691 J. Ray Coll. Eng. Words (ed. 2) at Goulans In the South we usually call marygolds simply golds.
1714 Philos. Trans. 1713 (Royal Soc.) 28 170 The Nut-hatch, or Nut-jobber, is not frequently to be met with in the South.
1768 T. Pennant Brit. Zool. (new ed.) I. 5 Croydon in the south, and Garterly in Yorkshire, were then famous horse-courses.
1837 W. Dyott Diary 16 July (1907) II. 257 And was there strongly entreated by the influentials in the South Division of the county to allow himself to be put in nomination with Lord Ingestre for the south.
1866 Hansard Commons 27 Apr. 91 It is not true that the North of England is superior in population or property to the South.
1959 Billboard 2 Nov. 86/3 Bal-Ami are so well established that they will soon be as strong as ever again in London and the South.
1996 Observer 29 Dec. (Life Suppl.) 27/1 Some emigrés from the South..expect to find cheaper versions of their chi-chi London houses.
(b) England regarded as the southern part of Britain.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > named regions of earth > Europe > British Isles > England > [noun]
Merry Englanda1400
rosec1460
south1641
perfidious Albion1798
perfide Albion1840
Mother of Parliaments1865
Little England1872
Blighty1900
1641 P. Heylyn Ἡρωολογια Anglorvm 12 Those inferiour petite Kings, being, in tract of time worne out, and almost all the South reduced under the immediate command of the Roman Empire.
1837 J. G. Lockhart Mem. Life Scott (1845) lii. 451/2 Letters..which Scott at this time addressed to his friends in the South.
1886 T. L. Kington-Oliphant New Eng. I. 222 This is still used as a Positive in Scotland, though we of the South can say only ‘most likely’.
1902 Jrnl. Hort., Cottage Gardener & Home Farmer 21 Aug. 182/1 That Mssrs. Storrie and Storrie, of Dundee, are among the most progressive firms in Scotland, we in the south have had frequent and ample proof of late.
2006 Evening Times (Glasgow) (Nexis) 14 Jan. 42 In the south, the absolute appeal of the English Cup has always been its consistent ability to produce the unfathomable.
(c) The independent Irish state (later known as the Republic of Ireland).
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > named regions of earth > Europe > British Isles > Ireland > [noun] > Republic
Kathleen Ni Houlihan1841
Irish Free State1921
Saorstát Éireann1922
Twenty-six Counties1922
south1924
1924 Times 24 Sept. 14/3 (heading) Irish Boundary Problem. English MP on his visit to the South.
1955 Life 7 Nov. 150/2 They [sc. the I.R.A.] would be creating in the South a life-mode that would attract the North.
1978 D. Murphy Place Apart ii. 33 In Northern Ireland one has a wide choice of names for the rest of the island: the Twenty-six Counties, the Free State, Southern Ireland, the South, Eire and the Republic of Ireland.
1995 Economist 27 May 27/3 Fianna Fail, the south's greenest party, does contain closet irredentists who share Sinn Fein's goals.
b. The southern part of a country or region. Cf. South of France at Phrases 2.
ΚΠ
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1963) 2 Kings xxiv. 7 Þei camen to þe south of Juda.
?c1450 Life St. Cuthbert (1891) l. 842 (MED) Þare was thre clerkes of þe southe Of england with þe bischop couthe.
a1500 ( J. Yonge tr. Secreta Secret. (Rawl.) (1898) 185 The Prynces of the Southe of Irland.
1590 E. Daunce Briefe Disc. Spanish State 32 The South of Spaine may be compared with the fruitfull parts of Italie.
1610 W. Crashaw Serm. preached in London sig. E2 A Virginean,..whose skinne..was so farre from a Moores or East or West Indians, that it was little more blacke or tawnie, then one of ours would be if he should goe naked in the South of England.
1671 J. Milton Paradise Regain'd iii. 319 From Atropatia..and the South Of Susiana to Balsara's hav'n. View more context for this quotation
1764 Philos. Trans. 1763 (Royal Soc.) 53 241 Then it will bend north-eastward, and pass over the south of Portugal, near Cape St. Vincent.
1773 G. White Let. 8 July in Nat. Hist. Selborne (1789) 156 A species of them is familiar to horsemen in the south of England.
1811 A. T. Thomson London Dispensatory ii. 342 Rue is..a native of the South of Europe.
1847 C. Brontë Jane Eyre III. iv. 106 A large, fashionable, south-of-England city.
1855 D. T. Ansted in Orr's Circle Sci.: Inorg. Nature 152 The chalk of the South of England.
1906 G. A. Grierson Ling. Surv. India IV. 148 The most idiomatic Korwā is spoken..in the south of Palamau.
1939 Fortune Oct. 90/2 Retailers come from the country to the south of the industrial Northeast.
1972 M. Richardson Fascination of Reptiles vii. 79 A relation [of the Cuban boa] is the rainbow boa..found between the south of Mexico and northern Argentina.
2002 J. Cunliffe Encycl. Dog Breeds (new ed.) 337/1 The Halden hound was developed in the south of Norway in the area near Halden.
c. Originally U.S. The south-eastern part of the United States, esp. the states below the Mason-Dixon line and extending east from Texas and Oklahoma; spec. the member states of the Southern Confederacy; the states upholding slavery during the American Civil War (now historical). Cf. Deep South n. at deep adj. Compounds 2, Old South n. at old adj. Compounds 4.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > named regions of earth > America > North America > [noun] > United States > southern states
south1779
Sunny South1833
Negroland1836
Old South1847
Dixie1859
Cousin Sally1861
sunbelt1918
down home1920
Deep South1936
1779 A. M. Storer in J. H. Jesse G. Selwyn & his Contemp. (1844) IV. 268 A ship..brings advice that Clinton is not going to the South as he first intended.
1852 H. B. Stowe Uncle Tom's Cabin II. xlv. 317 Shall the whole guilt or obloquy of slavery fall only on the South?
1872 M. S. De Vere Americanisms 120 Certain features of the landscape in the South and West.
1926 World's Work Sept. (Insert) 486–486 (advt.) One of New York's leading financiers once termed New Orleans' financial district ‘the Wall Street of the South’.
1964 E. Ginzberg & A. S. Eichner Troublesome Presence iv. 84 But now, with slavery once more remarkably profitable, the South was no longer willing to contemplate its demise.
2005 Nation (N.Y.) 18 Apr. 16/2 It is in the South and the Bible-thumping prairie states that the groundswell of religious fundamentalism has made gay marriage and abortion such hot-button issues.
4.
a. The southern regions of the world; the southern part of a region indicated contextually. In early use frequently in and after Biblical use with reference to southern Palestine.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > direction > cardinal points > South > [noun] > part or place
southdealeOE
south halfeOE
southlandOE
south endlOE
southdalec1175
south sidec1325
southa1382
Auster1535
sun half1565
sunny quarter1574
south-away1893
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1961) Josh. xii. 8 In þe souþ was Ethee & ammorre.
?c1400 (c1380) G. Chaucer tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (BL Add. 10340) (1868) ii. met. vi. l. 1479 Nero gouerned[e] alle þe poeples þat þe..wynde Nothus scorchiþ and bakiþ þe brennynge sandes..þat is to seyne, alle þe poeples in þe souþe.
?a1450 tr. Macer Herbal (Stockh.) (1949) 195 (MED) Ditayne is habondant in þe souþ.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Gen. xiii. A So Abram departed out of Egipte..towarde ye south.
1543 in J. Raine Wills & Inventories Archdeaconry Richmond (1853) 50 My Lord Daykar of the soyth.
1639 T. Fuller Hist. Holy Warre v. xv. 255 It is not so much the climate, as bad and unwholesome diet,..which unsineweth those Northern nations when they come into the South.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost i. 354 When her barbarous Sons Came like a Deluge on the South . View more context for this quotation
1756 E. Burke Vindic. Nat. Society 28 About this Time, another Torrent of Barbarians..poured out of the South.
1770 J. Andrews Rev. Characters Principal Nations Europe II. 191 That which they established in Amsterdam soon became, in the North, what the Model it was originally formed upon, that of Venice,..had been so long in the South.
1817 P. B. Shelley Laon & Cythna x. iv. 214 In the scorched pastures of the South.
1890 A. Conan Doyle White Company xxiii Here rode dark-browed cavaliers from the sunny south.
1924 Jrnl. Royal Anthropol. Inst. 54 182 The Mid-Europeans must have mixed with Nordic people on their Northern borders and with Mediterranean people on the South.
1967 G. B. Masefield in E. E. Rich & C. H. Wilson Cambr. Econ. Hist. Europe IV. v. 278 Cultivation in northern Europe soon overtook that in the south.
2008 Independent 18 Mar. 32/1 The city [sc. Adelaide] was known as the ‘Athens of the South’.
b. The countries of the southern hemisphere, viewed as industrially and economically less developed than those of the northern hemisphere; the developing world. Cf. north n. 3b.Recorded earliest in north-south gap (cf. north–south adj.).
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > named regions of earth > groups of countries > [noun] > undeveloped or having low level of development
developing world1908
rest1932
Third World1963
tiers monde1963
south1966
Fourth World1967
Global South1968
1966 F. Schurmann Ideol. & Organization in Communist China i. 79 The world is concerned today over the growing north-south gap between industrialized and nonindustrialized countries.
1977 N.Y. Times 22 Sept. 43 Today, any regional struggle over who is to become managing director of the I.M.F. is far less likely to be one between the United States and Western Europe as between the ‘North’ and the ‘South’—that is, the developed, industrial countries and the so-called developing countries.
1988 Jrnl. Refugee Stud. 1 187 Over the past years the South has suffered disasters almost beyond comprehension: from Nigeria/Biafra to Bengal cyclones to Kampuchea and the horrors of Ethiopia and Sudan.
1992 World Monitor June 30/2 ‘Sustainable development’..means that, if the South joins in accepting global environmental standards, the North will help the South to develop economically without plundering and polluting its natural environment.
5. † b. As a count noun: a south wind; (in the West Indies) spec. a southern gale. Obsolete.
a. Chiefly poetic. The south wind. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > wind > [noun] > wind with reference to direction > winds from specific compass points > south
south windeOE
AusterOE
southc1384
Notusa1398
souther1851
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Luke xii. 55 Whanne ȝe seen the south blowynge, ȝe seyen, For heete schal be.
c1450 Treat. Fishing in J. McDonald et al. Origins of Angling (1963) 169 (MED) The west and þe sowthe be ryght good; ȝet of þe two þe sowth is þe bettur.
a1500 (c1340) R. Rolle Psalter (Univ. Oxf. 64) (1884) cxxv. §5. 444 As þe south blawand frosyn strandis lesis and rennys, swa þe halygast blawand in vs we ere lesyd of syn.
1587 D. Fenner Song of Songs iv. 16 Wake North, and com O South, and on my garden blowe.
1651 H. Vaughan tr. Boet. ii. iii, in Olor Iscanus 51 If the Souths tempestuous breath Breaks forth, those blushes pine to death.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Æneis i, in tr. Virgil Wks. 220 The South with mighty Roar, Dispers'd and dash'd the rest upon the Rocky Shoar.
1731 J. Trapp tr. Virgil Georgicks iii, in tr. Virgil Wks. I. 188 That Point, Whence the black South first low'rs upon the World With Fogs, and Rain, and saddens all the Sky.
1757 W. Wilkie Epigoniad iii. 69 When the north and stormy south engage.
1819 Ld. Byron Don Juan: Canto II clxviii. 203 Breathing all gently.., As o'er a bed of roses the sweet south.
1871 R. Ellis tr. Catullus Poems xxvi. 2 'Tis not showery south, nor airy wester.
a1909 G. Meredith Poet. Wks. (1919) 17 Two rose-leaves drifted Down in a long warm sigh of the sweet South!
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > wind > [noun] > wind with reference to direction > winds from specific compass points > south > specifically in West Indies
south1699
1699 W. Dampier Voy. & Descr. iii. vi. 60 In the West Indies there are three sorts [of storms], viz. Norths, Souths, and Hurricanes.
1707 H. Sloane Voy. Islands I. p. lix Its being liable to be wash'd off by the violent sea-breezes or Souths.
1849 A. H. Clough Poems & Prose Remains (1869) II. 19 My wind is turned to bitter north, That was so soft a south before.
1862 W. H. Rosser Notes Physical Geogr. & Meteorol. S. Atlantic ii. 126 Even in the time of the souths, the wind is rarely to the southward of E.S.E.
6. As a count noun: a southern region, country, position, etc.; (also) a conception of the south.
ΚΠ
a1631 J. Donne Serm. (1959) IV. 50 When I am gone over this east, and west, and north, and south, here in this world, I should be as sorry as Alexander was, if there were no more worlds.
1785 Geogr. & Astron. Created World viii. 68 It may, or it may not, for some, be needless to say, that our south, is not the south of the earth.
1850 E. V. H. Kenealy Goethe 385 The scorpions were there, with the she-wolves and beasts From the souths, from the norths, from the wests, from the easts.
1934 Social Forces 12 345/1 There is no longer ‘the South’ but many Souths.
2009 R. E. Norton tr. E. Bertram Nietzsche: Attempt at Mythol. xiii. 222 Here, too, one strongly senses the allegorical aspect of the enjoyment in landscape,..a flight into the pure east, into the innocence of an outermost south... Every south is in Nietzsche's experience a de-realized symbol of a higher reality.
7. Cards and Mah-jong. Usually with capital initial. (The designation of) the player in mah-jong, bridge, and certain other four-handed games, who sits opposite and partners the player known as North. In mah-jong also: one of the four tiles or discs representing the south wind (cf. south wind n. 2).In several games, South is typically the player who bids the contract.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > bridge > [noun] > player or players > by position
east1894
south1894
west1894
east–west1908
north1965
1894 New Rev. Nov. 497 If eight hands (104 tricks) are agreed upon, let us suppose in the first set North and South score 60, and therefore East and West 44.
1897 R. F. Foster Compl. Hoyle 51 The four players at each table are distinguished by the letters N S E W; North and South being partners against East and West.
1922 R. E. Lindsell Ma-cheuk 9 Four players make up a table, and seats are usually determined by chance, the four discs (‘East’, ‘South’, ‘West’, and ‘North’) being placed face-down on the table and each player drawing one in turn.
1926 Auction Bridge Mag. Aug. 126/2 East is justified in expecting to set South at least one trick.
1933 C. Vandyck Contract Contracted iii. 31 South deals and bids 1 Diamond. North seeing the possibilities of a Slam gives a Slam Invitation by bidding 5 Spades.
1958 Listener 2 Oct. 541/1 One would expect South to pass.
1964 R. L. Frey & A. F. Truscott Official Encycl. Bridge 514/2 In bridge writing for general reading, South is, conventionally, the declarer... However, in reporting International Matches, the actual positions at the table are used.
1978 Country Life 14 Dec. 2098/2 Most Souths without further thought would bid Three No Trumps.
2001 N. McKeithan Let's Play Mah-Jong 7 If East does not Mah Jong, the seat positions shift with South becoming East by rotation.
D. prep.† 2. Southwards along. Obsolete. rare.
1. At, to, or †in the south of. Cf. besouth prep., a-south adv.
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1570 (c1478) Hary Actis & Deidis Schir William Wallace (Lekprevik) xi. f. 144v Into ane plane set Tentis and Pauilloun, South the Fawkirk, a lytill aboue the toun.
1603 J. Stow Suruay of London (new ed.) 121 One ward south the riuer Thames, in the Borough of Southwarke.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Coriolanus (1623) i. xi. 31 'Tis South the City Mils. View more context for this quotation
a1616 W. Shakespeare Cymbeline (1623) ii. iv. 81 The Chimney Is South the Chamber. View more context for this quotation
1728 A. Ramsay Poems II. 295 South the Tweed The Dastards said, ‘He never will succeed.’
1787 R. Burns Poems (new ed.) 199 When Phœbus gies a short-liv'd glow'r, Far south the lift.
1863 C. Reade Hard Cash I. vii. 209 The Chinese admiral had warned him of a pirate, a daring pirate, who had been lately cruising in these waters: first heard of south the line.
1901 R. Kipling Kim viii. 199 He knew that south the Border a perfectly ridiculous fuss is made about a corpse or so.
2008 Poland (Lonely Planet) 310/1 The ‘Black Stream’..is a 36-room pensionlike hostelry along a quiet street just south the pedestrian mall.
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1598 Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 387/1 Passand south the said balk to the laitch or strype.
Phrases
P1.
a. by south: see by prep. 9c.
b. at south: (of a wind) from the south.
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1562 T. Phaer tr. Virgil Æneid ix. C c iij Loke how the tempest storm, whan winds outwrastling blowes at south.
1568 T. Hacket tr. A. Thevet New Found Worlde xlv. f. 71v We feele in our selues, our bodies to wax heauy, specially the head when the winde is at south.
1694 J. Narborough Acct. Several Late Voy. (1711) i. 176 The Wind came about at South.
1725 D. Defoe New Voy. round World i. 140 The Wind came off Shore, for it blew at South.
1822 W. H. Ireland Sailor-boy (ed. 2) iv. 179 Tow'rds eve at South the gale tremendous blows.
1849 J. F. Cooper Sea Lions I. ix. 126 The wind coming out nearly at south, in squalls.
1880 W. C. Russell Sailor's Sweetheart I. v. 123 We were..breasting the long Atlantic rollers, with the wind dead at south.
1949 J. Caldwell Desperate Voy. xii. 114 The wind was holding at south; but it had toned in strength.
2002 W. M. James Naval Hist. Great Brit. V. 166 The British ship-sloop Bonne-Citoyenne..steering north-west by west with the wind at south.
c. south and north: along a line running from south to north.
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OE tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. (Cambr. Univ. Libr.) i. iii. 30 Þæt [ealond on Wiht] is þrittiges mila lang east & west, & twelf mila brad suð & norð.
?c1475 in J. Gairdner Sailing Direct. (1889) 11 (MED) Berwik lieth south and north of Golden stonys.
1596 Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 194/1 Be the grund of ane auld dyk lyand south and north.
1612 M. Drayton Poly-olbion xiii. 220 The second [way runs] South and North, from Michaels vtmost Mount, To Cathnesse.
1786 J. Knox Disc. on Expediency of establishing Fishing Stations 27 This chain is principally composed of five islands, lying South and North, and separated from each other at high-water by four narrow channels.
1838 Penny Cycl. XI. 439/2 A large island..which..extends about 80 miles south and north.
1969 Internat. Law Rep. (1994) 38 52 Two main valleys running south and north.
2000 R. Balmer in J. Butler et al. Relig. in Amer. Life (2008) ix. 332 African-American migrations tended to follow the train lines, which ran south and north.
P2. South of France: the southern part of France, spec. the French Riviera; (also allusively) something resembling or reminiscent of this.
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the world > the earth > named regions of earth > Europe > France or Frankish land > [noun] > south of France
South of France1681
Riviera1846
Midi1859
1681 Abstr. or Abbrev. Many Testimonys 7 In Forty Years, the making of Silk in the South of France, had brought into the Exchecquer or Financy of that Crown, Fifty Seven Millions of Livers.
1741 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. 29 July (1966) II. 245 They are gone to Marseilles and design passing some months in the South of France.
1815 E. Fremantle Diary 8 Sept. in Wynne Diaries (1952) xxxi. 533 We determined to take the former Road, particularly as the South of France is not quite quiet.
1872 C. M. Yonge P's & Q's ii. 10 At the time of her death, Elspeth and Persis had been in the South of France.
1922 M. Arlen ‘Piracy’ iii. v. 183 We are going to the south of France to-morrow.
1922 E. Sitwell in New Age 6 July 120/1 I liked..the warm, South-of-France feeling about her, and her faded hair that was like dry, powdery mimosa.
1980 I. Murdoch Nuns & Soldiers i. 83 Soho in summer was his South of France.
2004 Huddersfield Daily Examiner (Nexis) 3 Nov. 6 He jet-hopped between homes in London and Berkshire, Palm Spings in California and the South of France, with his wife Geraldine beside him.
P3. to sell (a person) south: = to sell (a person) down the river at river n.1 Phrases 5b.
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1843 E. R. D. Is it Good, or is it Evil? 30 See its hearth forsaken, the mother sold south.
1852 H. B. Stowe Uncle Tom's Cabin I. x. 142 To appreciate the sufferings of the negroes sold south.
1936 M. Mitchell Gone with the Wind iii. 51 The air was always thick with threats of selling slaves south and of direful whippings.
1976 M. G. Eberhart Family Fortune (1977) vii. 77 ‘Suppose Mr Jeff sell me south?’.. ‘He can't sell you... You and all the slaves..were set free.’
2007 B. Lowry Harriet Tubman (2008) i. vi. 106 There might have been yet another sister who was chained up and sold south; another mother with other children to cry for.
Compounds
C1. Compounds of the adjective.† south jeopardy n. Oxford University slang Obsolete the danger of becoming bankrupt or running out of funds.
south central adj. situated centrally and to the south.
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1801 Gentleman's Mag. 71 Suppl. 1182/2 The South central part is composed of six lozenges.
1862 D. T. Ansted & R. G. Latham Channel Islands i. i. 5 A south-central group, including Jersey.
1976 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 11 May 35/2 The small, poisonous spider has been moving steadily northward from its home in the south-central United States.
2008 New Yorker 4 Aug. 26/2 First, there was krumping, the spasmic, freestyle hip-hop dance out of South Central L.A.
South Equatorial Current n. an ocean current that flows westwards across the Pacific just south of the equator; each of two similar currents in the Atlantic and Indian oceans.
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1853 Jrnl. Royal Geogr. Soc. 23 227 A portion of the South Equatorial Current, S. of New Caledonia, is turned to the W.S.W., towards the Australian coast.
1915 P. Lake Physical Geogr. xiii. 163 The circulation of the water in the Pacific Ocean is very like that in the Atlantic... There is a North Equatorial Current and also a South Equatorial Current.
1973 W. T. Neill 20th-cent. Indonesia iv. 149 The South Equatorial Current passes in a westwardly direction through the waters of southern Indonesia and the Indian Ocean.
1997 Evolution 51 778/1 The nearest populations on the Society Islands were situated in the South Equatorial Current.
South Islander n. a native or inhabitant of the South Island of New Zealand.
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1850 Proc. Zool. Soc. 18 211 It was known to the North Islanders by the name of ‘Moho’, and to the South Islanders by that of ‘Takahé’.
1949 Journeys 34 56 I'm sure South Islanders are right in claiming that they live on the ‘mainland’.
2000 M. King Wrestling with Angel viii. 121 Dormant volcanic cones, some of which were called mountains—a source of amusement to South Islanders accustomed to ‘real’ mountains.
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1823 P. Egan Grose's Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue (rev. ed.) South Jeopardy, terrors of insolvency.
1825 C. M. Westmacott Eng. Spy I. v. 170 It would require some caution to steer clear of the forest of debt, and keep out of south jeopardy.
South Ken n. colloquial = South Kensington n.
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the world > the earth > named regions of earth > named cities or towns > [noun] > in Britain > London > parts of
vintrya1456
steelyard1474
tower hillc1480
city1556
Bow-bell1600
row1607
gate1723
east end1742
Mayfair1754
garden1763
warren1769
west?1789
the Borough1797
west end1807
Holy Land1821
Belgravia1848
Tyburnia1848
Mesopotamia1850
South Kensington1862
Dockland1904
South Ken1933
Fitzrovia1958
square mile1966
society > communication > manifestation > showing to the sight > exposure to public view > an exhibition > [noun] > museum > area of museums
South Kensington1862
South Ken1933
1933 M. Allingham Sweet Danger xiv. 172 If we get away with this we might start on the South Ken. There's a large-size model of a flea there I've always had my eye on.
1975 Times 11 Mar. 13/2 Little girls with South Ken accents.
2009 Time Out (Nexis) 12 Mar. 66 Their protests should finally be hushed this week, however, with the opening of the V&A's new Theatre and Performance Galleries, which rehouse the collection in South Ken.
South Kensington n. a district of London especially noted for the museums and other cultural and scientific institutions located there; (also) any of these institutions; frequently attributive.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > named regions of earth > named cities or towns > [noun] > in Britain > London > parts of
vintrya1456
steelyard1474
tower hillc1480
city1556
Bow-bell1600
row1607
gate1723
east end1742
Mayfair1754
garden1763
warren1769
west?1789
the Borough1797
west end1807
Holy Land1821
Belgravia1848
Tyburnia1848
Mesopotamia1850
South Kensington1862
Dockland1904
South Ken1933
Fitzrovia1958
square mile1966
society > communication > manifestation > showing to the sight > exposure to public view > an exhibition > [noun] > museum > area of museums
South Kensington1862
South Ken1933
1862 A. J. Munby Diary 18 Jan. in D. Hudson Munby (1972) 114 I walked past the South Kensington Museum and along the Cromwell Road.
1882 Girl's Own Paper 1 Apr. 432/2 We advise your going direct to the British Museum or South Kensington, and make a study of one gallery after another.
1885 A. Edwardes Girton Girl I. iii. 59 There was no South Kensington, and we never called ourselves art students.
1972 F. MacCarthy All Things Bright & Beautiful ii. 44 Lethaby..retired from the Central [School] to concentrate on the South Kensington professorship.
1998 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 15 Jan. 43/2 Acting on the advice of South Kensington, they bought a collection of European arms and armor.
South-Spain adj. rare of or relating to a South Spainer (see South Spainer n.); (also) characteristic of such a ship.
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society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > trading vessel > [adjective] > to or from specific place
Levantine1900
South-Spain1924
1924 W. Runciman Before Mast iii. ii. 78 As it was a Friday we had presented to us a real South Spain meal, pea soup and pork.
1933 J. Masefield Bird of Dawning 98 All South-Spain ships pass where we pass, going or coming.
South Spainer n. now rare a ship travelling to foreign (esp. southern) waters; a sailor on such a ship.
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society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > trading vessel > [noun] > trading to or from specific place
West Indies man1587
Indiaman1588
West Indy man1616
Lubecker1627
Chinaman1653
East Indiaman1675
West Indiaman1689
South-seaman1728
Levanter1812
Indianeer1840
South Spainer1856
society > travel > travel by water > one who travels by water or sea > sailor > types of sailor > [noun] > sailor who goes on trading voyages > specific
South Spainer1856
1856 C. Nordhoff Merchant Vessel viii. 97 They hold all manner of foreign vessels, or ‘south Spainers’, in supreme contempt.
1903 H. Holmes Life & Adventures 8 There may be truth in the saying that a South Spainer, bound for a warm climate, can put his clothes in a stocking.
1924 W. Runciman Before Mast ii. iii. 46 Never a cargo vessel looked cleaner or better cared for than this little South-Spainer.
south temperate adj. designating the temperate zone that lies between the tropic of Capricorn and the Antarctic Circle; of or relating to this zone; cf. temperate zone at temperate adj. 3b.
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1594 T. Blundeville Exercises iii. xxvi. f. 199v If they dwell in the South temperate Zone they cast their shadowe at noonetide towardes the South.
1625 N. Carpenter Geogr. Delineated i. ix. 209 The Tropicke of Capricorne: which ends the Torrid zone, and beginnes the South Temperate zone.
1778 A. Murry Mentoria v. 86 Under the South temperate zone lie the uttermost part of Africa, and the Cape of Good Hope; as also a great part of South America.
1849 Brit. Q. Rev. May 497 The south temperate region differs almost entirely from the north.
1913 Amer. Naturalist 47 26 It has been taken from the north temperate, tropical and south temperate Atlantic, the south temperate and tropical Indo-Australian and the north temperate Pacific oceans.
2001 J. D. Holloway et al. Families Malesian Moths & Butterflies iv. 195 Australian genera feed on a wider range of families, including the south-temperate Proteaceae, Epacridaceae and Nothofagus.
C2. Uses of the adverb, or the noun used with adverbial force, preceding participles to form adjectives.See also south-going adj.
a.
south-facing adj.
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1861 E. A. Maling In-door Plants iii. 80 The aspect being north, there will be always a more subdued tone than in the bright south-facing houses.
1884 Amer. Naturalist 18 368 In this region the trees growing on the south-facing hillsides lean down hill much more than do those on the much steeper north-facing hills.
1961 Times 23 Dec. 3/4 The aspect is right, that is south-facing.
1978 ‘J. Bell’ Swan-song Betrayed ii. 16 Her workroom, small but south-facing.
2005 Western Morning News (Plymouth) (Nexis) 15 June 7 The farmhouse is an attractive south-facing property.
south-falling adj.
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1632 W. Lithgow Totall Disc. Trav. vi. 281 The devalling side of the South-falling Syon.
1881 A. Murray & J. P. Howley Geol. Surv. Newfoundland xv. 417 The south falling streams..find their way in turbulent torrents to the sea.
2005 A. Burl Guide to Stone Circles of Brit., Ireland & Brittany (rev. ed.) 165/1 Auchquhorthies is a fascinating circle. It stands on a south-falling slope.
south running adj.
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1614 W. Lithgow Most Delectable Disc. Peregrination sig. I3v The Turkes generally, when they commit any copulation with Christians or their own Sex, they wash themselues in a South-running Fountaine, before the Sun-rising, thinking therby to wash away their sins.
1819 W. Scott Let. 15 Apr. (1933) V. 348 My highland piper,..who spent a whole sunday in selecting twelve stones from twelve south running streams.
2008 M. Todd in B. Heal & O. P. Grell Impact European Reformation ix. 191 South-running water was reputed to have magical properties.
south-wintering adj.
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1876 ‘Ouida’ In Winter City vii The south-wintering northern swallows.
1920 Trans. Amer. Microsc. Soc. 39 217 This is a south wintering fish.
1999 P. Pryce Keeping Lakes' Way iii. 53 This policy..was not successful in isolating north- and south-wintering Sinixt from each other.
b. † south-bounded adj. Obsolete† south-turned adj. Obsolete
south-aspected adj.
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1706 G. London & H. Wise Retir'd Gard'ner I. i. xii. 53 A South-aspected Wall in Sussex, or about London.
1851 Floricultural Cabinet June 122 A fine species for the greenhouse, or probably would succeed trained against a south-aspected wall.
2008 Irish Examiner (Nexis) 18 Oct. The Ryans' garden goes down in tiers from a south-aspected patio.
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1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. ii. ii. 440 Those Realmes South-bounded round with Sun-burnt Guinne.
1837 Jrnl. Royal Geogr. Soc. 7 275 A beautifully broken horizon in the south bounded plains which were then quite green, and gracefully wooded.
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1870 W. Morris Earthly Paradise: Pt. IV 296 Exceeding good Its sunny south-turned slopes are.
c. Astronomy.
south-following adj. (of a celestial object) located to the south-east of another in the sky; (also, of a point on a celestial object) coming into view after, and located to the south of, another point; cf. following adj. 5.
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1782 W. Herschel in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 72 114 The small star is said to be south preceding at mn, north preceding at op, south following at qr, and north following at st.
1871 Eng. Mech. 27 Jan. 441/2 The large extent of the corona on the north preceding side with scarcely any on the south following side.
1907 Monthly Notices Royal Astron. Soc. 67 548 With a magnifying power of 700 diameters, the south following star..is very close to the following edge of the following hole.
2003 G. W. Kronk Cometography II. 362 The strongest condensation was on the south-following side of the comet's center.
south-preceding adj. (of a celestial object) located to the south-west of another in the sky; (also, of a point on a celestial object) coming into view before, and located to the south of, another point; cf. preceding adj. 3.
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1782 W. Herschel in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 72 114 The small star is said to be south preceding at mn, north preceding at op, south following at qr, and north following at st.
1863 Intellectual Observer Dec. 353 The brightness of the ring is not strictly uniform, the south preceding position being slightly more luminous.
1921 Carnegie Instit. Year Bk. 252 At least three small flares jutting out from T Tauri, south preceding, south following, and to the north.
2008 G. McNamara Clocks in Sky vii. 92 The astronomers clearly state their opinion that the pulsar they had detected was the south preceding star.
Derivatives
south-like adj. characteristic of or resembling the south.
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1851 M. Reid Scalp Hunters I. xix. 239 The scenes through which we were passing—here soft and south-like,—there wild, barren.
2004 J. P. Synott Global & Internat. Stud. 23 Most South Africans live in South-like conditions.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2011; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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v.1715
adv.adj.n.prep.eOE- to throw chuck one's weight about or around
- to throw chuck, in the towel
- to throw cold water on
- to throw death
- to throw discredit on
- to throw discredit upon
- to throw down
- to throw down one's arms
- to throw down one's brief
- to throw down one's etc
- to throw down one's weapons
- to throw down the gauntlet
- to throw dust in the eyes of
- to throw etc one's weight about or around
- to throw everything at
- to throw everything into
- to throw fire
- to throw fling) in a person's face
- to throw fling) something in a person's face
- to throw good money after bad
- to throw in
- to throw in a person's way
- to throw in a widdie
- to throw in for good measure
- to throw in gear