adv., sb. and a. [OE. súðéast (see SOUTH adv. and EAST adv.), = WFris. súdeast, MDu. suut- (zuud-), suytoost (Du. zuidoost), OS. sûthôst (MLG. sûtôst), OHG. sund-, suntôst- (G. südost), Da. sydost, Norw. sudaust. Cf. also OF. suest, F. sud-est, Sp. sudeste, Pg. sueste.]
A. adv. 1. In the direction lying midway between south and east. Also with modifications, as by east, by south.
c. 893. K. Ælfred, Oros., I. i. 22. Donua muða þære ea scyt suðeast ut on ðone sæ Euxinus.
a. 1122. O. E. Chron. (Laud MS.), an. 1097. Se leoma … wæs swiðe lang ʓeþuht suðeast scinende.
13[?]. K. Alis., 5225 (Laud MS.). Al þat niȝth Hij riden south est riȝth.
14[?]. Sailing Directions (Hakluyt Soc., 1889), 11. Fro Houndeclif fote to Humbre the cours is south est and be south.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, IX. 62. Sowthest he saw … Saxten salis arayit all on raw.
1577. Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot., 733/2. Passand southeist as the commoun gait gangis.
1682, a. 1701. [see SOUTH adv. 4 c].
1725. De Foe, Voy. round World (1840), 145. We … stood off to sea, steering still south-east.
1772–84. Cook’s Voy. (1790), I. 151. We saw the same land south-east by south four leagues distant.
1849. Cupples, Green Hand, xiv. (1856), 143. I held south-east-by-east to the mark.
b. Followed by of.
1548. Patten, Exped. Scotl., E iij. Vpon this Fauxsyd Bray…, aboute halfe a myle southeast from them.
1771. Encycl. Brit., I. 577/1. Bobbio, a town … about twenty-eight miles south-east of Pavia.
1834–6. Encycl. Metrop. (1845), VIII. 414/2. About four miles South-East of Callington.
1896. Baden-Powell, Matabele Campaign, x. 263. The district east and south-east of Charter.
2. quasi-sb. With preps., as at, by, from, to.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 175. Fram douere in to chestre tilleþ watelinge stret, Fram souþest to þe norþwest.
1600. [see SOUTH adv. 4 b].
1707. J. Chamberlayne, Pres. St. Gt. Brit. (1710), 345. It is faced all round with a steep Rock, except a Bay at South-East.
1789. J. Williams, Min. Kingd., I. 102. The bearing of course must be in a line from north-west to south-east.
1868. Chambers’s Encycl., X. 214/1. Similarly, in the southern tropic, the wind will blow from south-east to north-west.
1879. Geikie, in Encycl. Brit., X. 352/2. The variations in thickness from north-west to south-east.
B. sb. 1. The direction or point of the horizon lying between south and east.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), I. 173. A partie þerof hatte Bulgaria, and haþ in þe est side Mesia, in þe souþ est Histria.
1432–50. trans. Higden (Rolls), II. 47. Watlingestreete goenge … from the sowthe este in to the northeweste.
1555. Eden, Decades (Arb.), 259. They … folowed the South easte nere vnto a cape of the Iland of Buthuan.
1604. E. G[rimstone], D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, III. v. 134. They call the North Tramontana...; Southeast is by them named Xirocque.
1725. De Foe, Voy. round World (1840), 315. They should have turned off to the south-east.
1806. A. Duncan, Nelson, 61. He … made the signal … to … steer to the south-east.
1840. R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, xviii. The shore is rocky, and directly exposed to the southeast.
† b. At the south-east, from the south-east quarter. Obs.–1
1725. De Foe, Voy. round World (1840), 212. We met with some very bad weather…, the wind blowing very hard at the south-east.
c. Followed by of.
1778. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 2), II. 1275/1. Bornholm, an island … to the south-east of the province of Schonen.
1861. Paley, Æschylus (ed. 2), Supplices, 280, note. A tract lying somewhere to the south or south-east of Europe.
1896. Baden-Powell, Matabele Campaign, xiii. 345. About a hundred miles to the south-east of this.
2. The south-east wind.
1725. Pope, Odyss., XII. 388. The south-east blust’ring with a dreadful sound.
3. The south-eastern part of a country.
1778. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 2), II. 1274/2. The south-east [of Borneo], for many leagues together, is a stinking morass.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., III. I. i. Gloomy tidings … of Sardinia rising to invade the Southeast.
C. adj. 1. Lying or situated in or towards, directed to, the south-east.
Cf. the OE. comb. súðéastende.
1548. Patten, Exped. Scotl., L viij. We pyght our fyeld a prikshot on thissyde the toun: being on the southest half.
1577. in W. H. Turner, Select. Rec. Oxford (1880), 395. In the Sowest warde, Mr. Ewen; in the Southwest warde, Mr. William Barton.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 405. The Planting of Trees warme vpon a Wall, against the South, or South-East Sunne.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Compass, What [has been said] of South-East Amplitudes, holds of North-West Amplitudes.
1820. Belzoni, Egypt & Nubia, III. 307. Mr. Beechey and myself went in a south-east direction.
1855. J. Phillips, Man. Geol., 115. Other ramifications run both on the south-east and north-west sides of Snowdonia.
2. Of the wind, currents, etc.: Blowing or running from the south-east.
Cf. OE. súðanéastanwind.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XI. iii. (1495), 387. That one is Eestwarde and hyghte Nothus the Southeest winde.
1483. Cath. Angl., 350/2. Þe Sowthe est wynde, euriaster, nothus.
1565. Cooper, Thesaurus, Euronotus, a south east wynde.
1611. Cotgr., Siroch, a South-east wind. Ibid., Sūest, the Southeast wind.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Wind, The North-West Winds succeed the South-East, when the Sun draws near the Tropic of Capricorn.
1868. Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869), 153. Prevailing winds southeast, northwest, and northeast.
1898. Jrnl. Sch. Geog. (U.S.), Oct., 298. The strong southeast swell produced by the southeast trade.
