a1605 J. Davis in S. Purchas Pilgrimes (1625) I. iv. vi. 445 In these parts, betweene the Tropickes I meane, it [sc. the variation] keepeth no method in Easting or Westing, as it doth without them.

1726 G. Shelvocke Voy. round World xii. 384 The Westing we should gain in going to California would make amends for what we should lose.

a1769 G. Robertson Discov. Tahiti (1948) 238 Endeavour to get a sufficient Westing, before you Attempt to run to the Northward.

1777 G. Forster Voy. round World II. 579 After leaving Ascension we made a good deal of westing.

1820 W. Scoresby Acct. Arctic Regions II. 369 A decrease of the variation of the compass, tends to give them more westing than they calculate upon.

1857 D. Livingstone Missionary Trav. S. Afr. xviii. 330 The westing we were making brought us among people who are frequently visited by the Mambari, as slave-dealers.

1867 Q. Rev. July 199 The westing made by the river between its source and its mouth would be..greater than the southing.

1910 Encycl. Brit. XI. 649/1 It is to this cause that the easting and westing of the great atmospheric currents are to be attributed.

1953 D. L. Morgan Jedediah Smith iv. 85 His party needed all the westing it could get; even a couple of miles a day added up.

1989 P. O'Brian Thirteen-gun Salute ii. 59 While the Surprise was making her westing Jack spent more in barrels of powder than ever he would have made in prize-money.

1652 H. Phillippes Geom. Sea-man 88 By this means without any trouble you shal plainly see the Easting and Westing, the Northing and Southing of your course.

a1665 K. Digby Jrnl. Voy. to Mediterranean (1868) 91 But for easting and westing, great diligence is required not to fall into error.

1682 P. Perkins & E. Perkins Seaman's Tutor sig. E7^v (heading) The Use of this Table for reducing Miles of Easting or Westing into Degrees and Minutes of Longitude.

1699 P. Gordon Geogr. Anatomized (ed. 2) i. 15 By Longitude we do not here understand that Opprobrium Navigatorum of Easting and Westing, but simply the distance between the given place and the first Meridian inscrib'd on the Surface of the Globe.

a1761 R. Gibson Treat. Pract. Surv. (1767) v. 221 If the Sum of the Northings be equal to that of the Southings, and the sum of the Eastings be equal to that of the Westings, the Field-Work is truly taken, otherwise not.

1804 T. Fenwick Treat. Subterraneous Surv. ii. 199 In whatever denomination the bearing length is, in the same denomination must the integral part of the northing or southing and easting or westing be.

1846 Mem. Amer. Acad. Arts & Sci. New Ser. 2 180 The easting or westing, viz. the longitude, must be disregarded..in this problem.

1902 J. Whitelaw Surveying ii. 93 The most accurate method of plotting is..to calculate the latitudes and departures, or northings, southings, eastings, westings, as they are also called, of each of the lines.

1986 Sailplane & Gliding Oct.–Nov. 216/3 Usually the longitude is a ‘westing’ as most places in the UK lie west of the Greenwich meridian.

2003 M. Culshaw in M. S. Rosenbaum & A. K. Turner New Paradigms Subsurface Predict. ii. 17 The Greenwich meridian defines zero degrees of longitude (eastings and westings).

1745 Pennsylvania Gaz. 6 Dec. The Almanack may also have in it to use the Northings, Eastings and Westings (or Levellings) and Southings of Stars round the Pole, to measure Time, and often serve in Southings.

1824 Gentleman's Mag. Mar. 213/1 I gave the year 1818 erroneously, as the year when the Pole attained its maximum of westing.

1883 R. A. Proctor Great Pyramid iii. 139 The easting, southing, westing, and northing of heavenly bodies.

1946 Ellery Queen's Myst. Mag. May 42/1 The sun is running its westing down, behind the peaks of the Puy de Dôme.

1834 Amer. Jrnl. Sci. 26 56 Winds with westing, are more prevalent [off Cape Horn] than those with easting, in them.

1883 Encycl. Brit. XVI. 144/1 The westing of these great aerial currents is due to..the rotation of the earth round its axis.

1916 Afr. Pilot I. x. 453 The weather is generally the finest and most reliable when the wind has most westing, but it is uncertain at all times.

2001 J. Stockwin Kydd 97 Fair wind at the moment—should make soundings in a day or so if there's no more westing in it.

1669 S. Sturmy Mariners Mag. iv. ii. 147 In the like manner you must do if your Course were North or Westing.

1836 Sc. Monthly Mag. July 207 The westing sun's beam Cast gold on the grass.

1872 R. F. Burton Zanzibar II. vii. 191 The welcome river flashing light..mirrored the westing orb of day.

1907 R. Elliott Act of God xii. 426 Hudson steered by a large westing star.

1997 M. Kurlansky Cod iv. 72 Westing ships out of Bristol reached the Labrador coast and dropped down to Newfoundland.

2007 R. D. Gill Cherry Blossom Epiphany xv. 210 The shadow ‘moving Eastward’ is not shade but the sight of illuminated blossoms as the light of the Westing moon leaves the valleys.