Forms: α. 1 éastan (Northumb. éasta), 3–4 esten. β. 1–2 éast, 2–5 est, 3 æst, (4 yeast), 4–5 este, 4–6 easte, eest, 6 Sc. eist, 3– east. [repr. two distinct forms in OE., both of which occur only as adv. or in composition. (1) OE. éastan = OS. ôstan(a (Du. oost), OHG. ôstana, (MHG. ôsten(e, mod.G. osten), ON. austan:—OTeut. *aus-to-nô ‘from the east,’ f. base *aus- dawn (found in L. aurōra:—*ausōsa, Lith. auszrà, Skr. ushās dawn, Gr. αὔριον:—*αὔαριον morning) + double suffix, as in OE. hin-da-n from behind. (2) OE. éast, in compounds repr. OTeut. *aus-to- (see above), but as adv. perh. shortened from *éaster ‘toward the east’ = OS., OHG. ôstar (Du. ooster- in compounds), ON. austr advbs.:—OTeut. *aus-tr-, f. *aus- + suffix, as in OE. hinder backwards; cf. ON. austr sb. masc. (gen. austrs), Goth. *Austragutôs Ostrogoths. A trace of the lost OE. *éaster appears in the adj. (compar.) éasterra more easterly; also in certain place-names, as Eastoreʓe, Eastry; cf. ‘Alduulfus rex Estranglorum’ Bæda H. E. IV. xvii.
As a nautical term the Eng. word has been adopted into Romanic langs.: Fr., It. est, Sp., Pg. este, Pg. also leste.]
A. adv.
† I. 1. [repr. OE. éastan.] From the east. Also in OE. bi éastan, ME. bi esten eastward; sometimes as prep. with dat. = eastward of. Comb. eastan-wind: see EAST-WIND.
c. 893. K. Ælfred, Oros., I. i. § 12. Be eastan Rine sindon Eastfrancan.
a. 1000. Cædmon’s Gen., 806 (Gr.). Ȝif wind cymþ westan oððe eastan.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 232. ‘Bihold,’ cweð [he] bi esten.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Langt. (1725), 45. Grete taliage laid he þeron bi Esten & bi West.
II. [repr. OE. éast.]
2. With reference to motion or position: In the direction of the part of the horizon where the sun rises. More definitely: In the direction of that point of the horizon which is 90° to the right of the north point; also due († full) east.
c. 890. K. Ælfred, Bæda, I. iii. (Bosw.). Ðæt ealond on Wiht is þrittiʓes mila lang east and west.
a. 1000. Boeth. Metr., xiii. 59 (Gr.). Sio sunne … norð eft and east Eldum oðeweð.
c. 1200. Ormin, 7270. We sæȝhenn æst in ure lond þiss newe kingess sterrne.
1250. Lay., 23223. Ferden heo æst ferden heo west.
1473. Warkw., Chron. (1839), 22. It [a comet] arose ester and ester, till it arose full este.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 35 b. Where it weneth to go eest, it gothe west.
1562. J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 41. Alwaie the longe east the shorter west.
1611. Bible, Gen. xiii. 11. Lot iourneyed East.
1828. J. H. Moore, Pract. Navig. (ed. 20), 144. If the place be any distance east or west of Greenwich.
1832. Act 2 & 3 Will. IV., lxiv. Sched. O. 38. A straight line drawn due east to a point one hundred yards distant.
b. About east: in U. S. slang ‘regularly,’ in proper style, as it should be.
a. 1848. Hiram Bigelow’s Lett. in Family Comp. (Bartlett). I did walk into the beef, and taters, and things, about east.
1864. Lowell, Biglow P., Wks. (1879), 231. To find out what was about east and to shape his course accordingly.
3. quasi-sb. Preceded by prep. from, on, etc.
c. 1200. Ormin, 11258. All þiss middellærd iss ec O fowwre daless dæledd Onn Est, o Wesst, o Suþ, o Norþ.
a. 1240. Sawles Warde, in Cott. Hom., 265. As swifte as þe sunne gleam þe scheot from est into west.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 2212. Fra est he broght a felauscap vnto þe feld of sennar.
B. sb.
1. subst. use of A. 2. The portion of the horizon or of the sky near the place of the sun’s rising. More definitely, that one of the cardinal points near which the sun rises.
c. 1180. Newminster Cartul. (1878), 118. Versus le Est.
c. 1300. St. Brandan, 35. Towards than Est so fur we wende.
1340. Ayenb., 124. Sleȝþe: hit wereþ wyþ þet yeast be porueynge aye þe perils.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 143. Est, oriens.
1535. Coverdale, Ezek. viii. 16. Fyue and twenty men … turned … their faces towarde the easte.
1599. Shaks., Much Ado, V. iii. 27. The gentle day … Dapples the drowsie East with spots of grey.
1655. H. Vaughan, Silex Scint., I. 65. Herbs sleep unto the East.
1732. Pope, Ep. Cobham, 64. The Wind just shifted from the East.
1850. Tennyson, In Mem., xcv. And East and West … Mixt their dim lights … To broaden into boundless day.
b. To the east (of): (situated) in an eastward direction (from).
1778. Robertson, Hist. Amer., I. 430. If the countries, which Marco Polo visited, had been situated to the east of those whose longitude Marinus had ascertained.
Mod. Barking is 7 miles to the east of London.
2. The eastern part of the world, the orient; the eastern part of a country, district or town.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 3384. Þai held … þe landes þat war tilward þe est.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. I. 339. Þre kingis camen afer out of þe eest.
1482. Caxton, Chron. Eng., xxii. 21. The real wey from the eest in to the west was called watling strete.
1535. Coverdale, Ezek. xxv. 4. I will delyuer ye to the people of the east.
1667. Milton, P. L., II. 3. Where the gorgeous East … Showrs on her Kings Barbaric Pearl.
1732. Berkeley, Alciphr., vi. § 27. There was a general expectation in the east of a Messiah.
1853. Robertson, Serm., Ser. III. iii. (1872), 38. In the same East, men take off their sandals in devotion.
3. = EAST-WIND.
a. 1763. Shenstone, Elegies, XX. 12. Where the sharp east for ever … blows.
1785. Cowper, Task, IV. 363. The unhealthful East, That … searches every bone Of the infirm.
1864. Bryant, Return of Birds, iv. The blustering East shall blow.
C. as adj. That is situated in or adjacent to the eastern part of anything; that is towards the east; oriental, easterly. Formerly often used where eastern would now generally be preferred.
The adjectival use of the word arises from the analysis of compounds like OE. éast-dǽl (see D. 1), the first element of which, having a virtually adjectival force, came to be regarded as a separable word.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 5. [Christ] rad in et þan est ʓete þere burh.
1297. R. Glouc. (1810), 2. Temese by the Est syde.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 11395. A folk … Wonnand be þe est occean.
c. 1400. Maundev., xiv. 156. Ethiope is departed … in the Est partie, and in the Meridionelle partie.
1413. Lydg., Pylgr. Sowle, V. xiv. 81. The sonne … hastyd hym vpward toward the eest oryson.
1593. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., IV. xi. The East and West Churches.
1642. Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., III. vii. 167. An East-window welcomes the infant beams of the Sun.
1693. Evelyn, Compl. Gard., I. 30. There are four sorts of Expositions, the East, the West, the South and the North.
D. In Combination.
1. Combined with sb., as in † east-deal, eastern part; † east-half [cf. ON. austr-halfr], eastern or easterly side; † East-man (see quot.); east-sea, a sea on the east side of a country, or in an eastern region of the world; formerly also as the proper name of the Baltic [= Ger. Ostsee]. See also EAST-COUNTRY, -END, -LAND, -WIND, ESTRICHE. (The combs. of this class still in use are now commonly written without hyphen, and east regarded as an adj.)
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Matt. ii. 2. We ʓe-sawon hys steorran on *east-dæle.
c. 1200. Ormin, 16400. Æstdale of all þiss werelld iss Anatole ȝehatenn.
a. 1300. E. E. Psalter cii[i]. 12. How mikle estdel stand westdel fra.
898. O. E. Chron., an. 894. Ðæm monnum þe on *east healfe þære e wicodon.
c. 1200. Ormin, 3430. He sette a steorrne upp o þe lifft … Onn æst hallf off þiss middellærd.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 10581. He grauntid þo grete a graunt for to haue In the entre of the est halfe.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit., II. 68. The Oustmans, as one would say, Esterlings or *Eastmen, came out of the sea coasts of Germanie into Ireland.
c. 890. K. Ælfred, Bæda, I. xii. Fram *east sæ oþ wæst sæ.
c. 1305. St. Kenelm, 18, in E. E. P. (1862), 48. Temese [goþ] into þe est see.
1710. Lond. Gaz., No. 4669/3. A Danish Frigot arrived from the East-Sea.
b. Prefixed to names of countries or districts, usually with sense ‘eastern portion of…,’ as in East Germany, East London; often forming the recognized name of a political or administrative division, as East Prussia, East Derbyshire. Also prefixed to adjs. of territorial signification, as East-midland, East-central; and to names of peoples, as East-Goths (= Ostrogoths), East-Franks.
898. O. E. Chron., an. 894. Norþhymbre ond Eastengle hæfdon aþas ʓeseald.
1513–75. Diurn. Occurr. (1833), 40. Vpoun the xxvj day of September, the Homes wan eist-Nisbet.
1561. Daus, trans. Bullinger on Apoc. (1573), 196. The Eastgothes & Lumbardes, obtained Italy.
1817. Edin. Rev., XXIX. 49. The East-insular tribes have a chivalrous abhorrence of … personal abuse.
1841. W. Spalding, Italy & It. Isl., II. 55. The East-Goths had a strongly monarchical constitution.
2. With ppl. adj., as † east-surprised; east-bound, eastward bound (chiefly in America of railway traffic).
1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe (1871), 29. By the proportion of the east-surprised Gades … diuers have tried … to configurate a twin-like image of it.
1881. Chicago Times, 12 March. The east-bound express was held at North Platte.
1882. Times, 22 March, 5/3. East-bound freight rates.
3. East-south-east, East-north-east: the points of the compass distant 221/2° from due East; East-by-South, East-by-North: the points distant 111/4° from due East. Used as sb., adj. and adv.
1555. Eden, Decades W. Ind., I. VI. (Arb.), 87. An Eastsoutheaste wynde arose.
1594. J. Davis, Seamans Secr. (1607), C 3 b. East & by north raiseth a degree in sailing 102. leagues and a mile.
1713. Lond. Gaz., No. 5141/3. A Sand lies almost East and by South, half Southerly from the Spurn Light.
1725. De Foe, Voy. round World (1840), 84. We … then stood away east, and east-by-north. Ibid., 302. We … stood away … east-north-east. Ibid., 335. A much larger river … which … ran east-by-south towards the sea.
1742. Woodroofe, in Hanway, Trav. (1762), I. II. xxiii. 98. A light breeze springing up at east south east, we weighed.
1849. Dana, Geol., ix. (1850), 489. The course of a fissure is east-by-north.
