East

Webster's Dictionary of the English Language

·adv Eastward.

II. East ·vi To move toward the east; to veer from the north or south toward the east; to Orientate.

III. East ·add. ·adj Designating, or situated in, that part of a church which contains the choir or chancel; as, the east front of a cathedral.

IV. East ·adj Toward the rising sun; or toward the point where the sun rises when in the equinoctial; as, the east gate; the east border; the east side; the east wind is a wind that blows from the east.

V. East ·noun The eastern parts of the earth; the regions or countries which lie east of Europe; the orient. In this indefinite sense, the word is applied to Asia Minor, Syria, Chaldea, Persia, India, China, ·etc.; as, the riches of the East; the diamonds and pearls of the East; the kings of the East.

VI. East ·noun The point in the heavens where the sun is seen to rise at the equinox, or the corresponding point on the earth; that one of the four cardinal points of the compass which is in a direction at right angles to that of north and south, and which is toward the right hand of one who faces the north; the point directly opposite to the west.

VII. East ·noun Formerly, the part of the United States east of the Alleghany Mountains, ·esp. the Eastern, or New England, States; now, commonly, the whole region east of the Mississippi River, ·esp. that which is north of Maryland and the Ohio River;

— usually with the definite article; as, the commerce of the East is not independent of the agriculture of the West.