west by south

American

noun

Navigation, Surveying.

a point on the compass 11°15prime; south of west. WbS

west by south British

noun

one point on the compass south of west, 258° 45′ clockwise from north

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

adjective

in, from, or towards this direction

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

"The Fort Pitt trail lies west by south," I suggested, over my shoulder, to the Weasel.

From Project Gutenberg

Towards midnight we once more set double-reefed foresail in order to lie our course of west by south.

From Project Gutenberg

The general direction of the river is west by south, but a few miles above Seville it changes to south by west.

From Project Gutenberg

The most southern cape of the southern mass bore west by south, but still further to the south there were vague indications of land.

From Project Gutenberg

That ere one moon had waxed and waned his dugout was prepared for its long journey inland, west by south, along the waterway of two great Lands!

From Project Gutenberg

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023