LEEWARD

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does leeward mean? 

• LEEWARD (noun)
  The noun LEEWARD has 2 senses:

1. the direction in which the wind is blowing

2. the side of something that is sheltered from the wind

  Familiarity information: LEEWARD used as a noun is rare.

• LEEWARD (adjective)
  The adjective LEEWARD has 1 sense:

1. on the side away from the wind

  Familiarity information: LEEWARD used as an adjective is very rare.

• LEEWARD (adverb)
  The adverb LEEWARD has 1 sense:

1. away from the wind

  Familiarity information: LEEWARD used as an adverb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• LEEWARD (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The direction in which the wind is blowing

Classified under:

Nouns denoting relations between people or things or ideas

Hypernyms ("leeward" is a kind of...):

direction (the spatial relation between something and the course along which it points or moves)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "leeward"):

leeward side; to leeward (the side sheltered from the wind)

Antonym:

windward (the direction from which the wind is coming)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The side of something that is sheltered from the wind

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Synonyms:

lee; lee side; leeward

Hypernyms ("leeward" is a kind of...):

face; side (a surface forming part of the outside of an object)

Antonym:

windward (the side of something that is toward the wind)

• LEEWARD (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

On the side away from the wind

Context example:

on the leeward side of the island

Similar:

downwind; lee (towards the side away from the wind)

Antonym:

windward (on the side exposed to the wind)

• LEEWARD (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Away from the wind

Synonyms:

leeward; upwind

Context example:

they were sailing leeward

Antonym:

windward (toward the wind)

 Context examples 

As I passed to leeward of the galley on my way aft I was approached by the engineer we had rescued.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

No matter how breathless the air when he dug his nest by tree or bank, the wind that later blew inevitably found him to leeward, sheltered and snug.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

You see, sir, he went on, if once we dropped to leeward of the landing-place, it's hard to say where we should get ashore, besides the chance of being boarded by the gigs; whereas, the way we go the current must slacken, and then we can dodge back along the shore.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

If he had been a gliding shadow before, he now became the ghost of such a shadow, as he crept and circled around, and came up well to leeward of the silent, motionless pair.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Wind blowing on a building can result in a high pressure on the windward side and a low pressure at the leeward side, which drives flow across a room, bringing fresh air in from outside and ventilating a room.

(Wind more effective than cold air at cooling rooms naturally, University of Cambridge)

I looked for the boat, and, while Wolf Larsen cleared the boat-tackles, saw it lift to leeward on a big sea an not a score of feet away.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

As I did so, I let go of the tiller, which sprang sharp to leeward, and I think this saved my life, for it struck Hands across the chest and stopped him, for the moment, dead.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

He still held the wheel, and I felt that he was timing Time, reckoning the passage of the minutes with each forward lunge and leeward roll of the Ghost.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

There was just the faintest wind from the westward; but it breathed its last by the time we managed to get to leeward of the last lee boat.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Late in the afternoon I sighted a steamer’s smoke on the horizon to leeward, and I knew it either for a Russian cruiser, or, more likely, the Macedonia still seeking the Ghost.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)