southing

American  

[sou-thing] / ˈsaʊ ðɪŋ /

noun

1. Astronomy.

   1. the transit of a heavenly body across the celestial meridian.

   2. south declination.

2. movement or deviation toward the south.

3. distance due south made by a vessel.

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southing British  

/ ˈsaʊðɪŋ /

noun

1. nautical movement, deviation, or distance covered in a southerly direction

2. astronomy a south or negative declination

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Etymology

Origin of southing

First recorded in 1650–60; south + -ing ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

southing

Consequently the southing bergs must have piled up on the Newfoundland and Labrador coasts, as though Jack Frost and King Neptune, bored with spring gambling, had laid aside their sea dice.

From Time Magazine Archive

His cell looked South, and thus he could study the movements of the moon and the planets, and note the southing of the stars.

From The Age of Erasmus Lectures Delivered in the Universities of Oxford and London by Allen, P. S. (Percy Stafford)

We were obliged to stand a long way to the westward, and went to the northward of Juan Fernandez above a degree, before we had a wind that we could make any southing with.

From A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 17 Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History of the Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and Commerce, by Sea and Land, from the Earliest Ages to the Present Time by Kerr, Robert

Between sunrise and sunset that day, the Flying Cloud contrived to make nearly eight miles of southing, and a small slant of wind during the night enabled her to make about fourteen more.

From The Missing Merchantman by Overend, William Heysham

Throughout the whole of Saturday the men toiled incessantly at their oars, and when it wanted about an hour to sunset we had only made about seven miles and a half of southing.

From Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia, Volume 1 by Grey, George