east

plural easts

1. The direction of the earth's rotation, specifically 90°.

   The sun rises in the east.

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   Portsmouth is to the east of Southampton.

   We live in the east of the country.

   The levanter wind is in/from the east.

   In a few hours the birds come to it from all points of the compass – east, west, north, and south […]

   1895, Thomas Hardy, Jude the Obscure

2. The eastern region or area; the inhabitants thereof.First known use circa 1300

   We, in the west, agreed amongst ourselves that a penitentiary should be erected with our half of the money arising as above stated; and the east agreed to improve the country in their vicinity with the other half.

   1855, John Reynolds, My Own Times: Embracing Also the History of My Life, page 271

3. ecclesiasticalIn a church: the direction of the altar and chancel; the direction faced by the priest when celebrating ad orientem.

   However, in Mies' chapel, liturgical east is magnetic west.

   2018, Anat Geva, Modernism and American Mid-20th Century Sacred Architecture, Routledge, →ISBN

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   A few [Anglican churches in South Carolina, Virginia and Maryland] are oriented other than due [geographic] east—St. Paul's, St. George's, and Prince George's parish churches face northeast and St. Andrew's, southeast. […] Throughout the book I refer directionally to the altar and chancel of St. Andrew's as situated at ecclesiastical east (to avoid overcomplicating matters), not geographical or magnetic southeast. Thus, the altar is located at the east end of the church, and the gallery, at the west.

   2014 April 11, Paul Porwoll, Against All Odds: History of Saint Andrew's Parish Church, Charleston, 1706–2013, Bloomington, Ind.: WestBow Press, →ISBN, pages 364–365

   The tapestry by Graham Sutherland that occupies the whole wall of the liturgical east and geographic north of the cathedral is recognisable to the point of visual exhaustion.

   2019, Sarah Hosking, "Coventry Cathedral", in Prickett Stephen Prickett, Edinburgh Companion to the Bible and the Arts, Edinburgh University Press, →ISBN, page 371

1. not comparableSituated or lying in or towards the east; eastward.

   Synonyms: eastward

2. not comparableclimatologyBlowing (as wind) from the east.

   Synonyms: easterly

3. not comparableOf or pertaining to the east; eastern.
4. not comparableFrom the East; oriental.

   Synonyms: oriental

5. not comparableecclesiasticalDesignating, or situated in, the liturgical east.

   the east front of a cathedral

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   Throughout the book I refer directionally to the altar and chancel of St. Andrew's as situated at ecclesiastical east (to avoid overcomplicating matters), not geographical or magnetic southeast. Thus, the altar is located at the east end of the church, and the gallery, at the west.

   2014, Paul Porwoll, Against All Odds: History of Saint Andrew's Parish Church, Charleston, 1706-2013, WestBow Press, →ISBN, page 365

   The tapestry by Graham Sutherland that occupies the whole wall of the liturgical east and geographic north of the cathedral is recognisable […] a huge image of Christ on the [liturgical] east end, filling the entire wall and to be visible through the [liturgical] West Window (Fig. 24.2).

   2019, Sarah Hosking, "Coventry Cathedral", in Prickett Stephen Prickett, Edinburgh Companion to the Bible and the Arts, Edinburgh University Press, →ISBN, page 371

comparative further east · comparative farther east · superlative furthest east · superlative farthest east

1. Towards the east; eastwards.

   a point six miles east of here

   Synonyms: eastwards

plural Easts · alternative Eastes

1. countableuncountableAny of various particular regions named for the cardinal direction in which they lie.

   […] I sat down and wrote, / In such a hand as when a field of corn / Bows all its ears before the roaring East; […]

   1847, Alfred Tennyson, “Part I”, in The Princess: A Medley, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 23

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   Up the two terrace flights of steps the rain ran wildly, and beat at the great door, like a swift messenger rousing those within; uneasy rushes of wind went through the hall,[…]. East, West, North, and South, through the woods, four heavy-treading, unkempt figures crushed the high grass and cracked the branches, striding on cautiously to come together in the court-yard.

   1859, Charles Dickens, “Fire Rises”, in A Tale of Two Cities, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, book II (The Golden Thread), page 158

   1. countableuncountableThe Eastern world; the regions, primarily situated in the Eastern Hemisphere, whose culture is derived from Arabia, India, Persia or China.

      I remember a hearty welcome; a prodigious supper, which would have fed a whole village in the East; […]

      1868 January 4 – June 6, [William] Wilkie Collins, “Second Period. The Discovery of the Truth. (1848–1849.) […] [Third Narrative. Contributed by Franklin Blake.]”, in The Moonstone. A Romance. […], volume II, London: Tinsley Brothers, […], published 1868, →OCLC, chapter III, page 282

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      ¹⁰ In any event, Darius' visitors urged him to "establish the statute and sign the writing, in order for it not to be changed, according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which is not annulled." (Daniel 6:8) In the ancient East, the will of a king was often regarded as absolute. This perpetuated the notion that he was infallible. Even a law that could cause the death of innocent people had to remain in effect!

      1999, Pay Attention to Daniel's Prophecy!, Brooklyn, NY: Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, →OCLC, →OL, page 118

   2. countableuncountableThe Eastern Bloc; the eastern countries of Europe.
   3. countablehistoricaluncountablethe Soviet Union and its socialist allies during the Cold War.
   4. countablehistoricaluncountableThe Eastern Roman Empire.
   5. countableuncountableChristianityThat part of the Christian Church whose traditions and practices originated in the former territories of the Eastern Roman Empire, including the Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Catholic Churches, Oriental Orthodox Church, and Church of the East.

      The words may suggest that the Roman rite is in some way superior to those of the East: a fallacy now equally reprobated by Rome.

      1947, Archdale A. King, “Preface”, in The Rites of Eastern Christendom, volume I, Rome: Catholic Book Agency, page XI

   6. countableuncountableThe eastern states of the United States.
   7. countableuncountableA civil parish of Kings County, Prince Edward Island, Canada.First known use 1765
2. countableuncountableA personification of the wind from the east.

   Near-synonyms: easter, levanter

   Synonyms: easter, levanter

3. countableuncountableA surname.