westing

American  

[wes-ting] / ˈwɛs tɪŋ /

noun

1. Navigation. the distance due west made good on any course tending westward; westerly departure.

2. Surveying. a distance west from a north-south reference line.

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westing British  

/ ˈwɛstɪŋ /

noun

1. nautical movement, deviation, or distance covered in a westerly direction, esp as expressed in the resulting difference in longitude

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Etymology

Origin of westing

First recorded in 1620–30; west + -ing ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

westing

The sun was already westing toward evening, and the trees where they were had plunged them into a partial dude.

From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White

Thus far they had scarcely made any westing at all, having gone almost due north, and were nearly as far from the Atlantic Ocean as when they left Nyangwe.

From Stanley's Adventures in the Wilds of Africa A Graphic Account of the Several Expeditions of Henry M. Stanley into the Heart of the Dark Continent by Joel Tyler Headley

Ten hours' westing from the Missouri River takes a moderately fast train well into the great grazing region whose name is Length and Breadth, and whose horizon is like that of the sea.

From A Romance in Transit by Francis Lynde

The sun was westing fast as they turned, but now their way lay towards home, via sundry other places.

From Say and Seal, Volume II by Susan Warner

His own courage and resolution however never failed, and he still made the best of his way to the southward, seizing every opportunity of making westing.

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