WESTERLY

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does westerly mean? 

• WESTERLY (noun)
  The noun WESTERLY has 1 sense:

1. the winds from the west that occur in the temperate zones of the Earth

  Familiarity information: WESTERLY used as a noun is very rare.

• WESTERLY (adjective)
  The adjective WESTERLY has 2 senses:

1. of wind; from the west

2. moving toward the west

  Familiarity information: WESTERLY used as an adjective is rare.

• WESTERLY (adverb)
  The adverb WESTERLY has 2 senses:

1. toward the west

2. from the west

  Familiarity information: WESTERLY used as an adverb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WESTERLY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The winds from the west that occur in the temperate zones of the Earth

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

Synonyms:

prevailing westerly; westerly

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

west wind; wester (wind that blows from west to east)

Derivation:

westerly (of wind; from the west)

• WESTERLY (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Of wind; from the west

Synonyms:

westerly; western

Similar:

west (situated in or facing or moving toward the west)

Derivation:

wester (wind that blows from west to east)

westerly (the winds from the west that occur in the temperate zones of the Earth)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Moving toward the west

Synonyms:

westbound; westerly; westward

Context example:

westbound pioneers

Similar:

west (situated in or facing or moving toward the west)

• WESTERLY (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Toward the west

Context example:

we began to steer away westerly

Pertainym:

west (situated in or facing or moving toward the west)

Sense 2

Meaning:

From the west

Context example:

the wind blew westerly

Antonym:

easterly (from the east)

Pertainym:

west (situated in or facing or moving toward the west)

 Context examples 

It was an even choice between this and the west-north-westerly course which the wind permitted; but the warm airs of the south fanned my desire for a warmer sea and swayed my decision.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

They gaily ascended the downs, rejoicing in their own penetration at every glimpse of blue sky; and when they caught in their faces the animating gales of a high south-westerly wind, they pitied the fears which had prevented their mother and Elinor from sharing such delightful sensations.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

We then set sail, and had a good voyage till we passed the Straits of Madagascar; but having got northward of that island, and to about five degrees south latitude, the winds, which in those seas are observed to blow a constant equal gale between the north and west, from the beginning of December to the beginning of May, on the 19th of April began to blow with much greater violence, and more westerly than usual, continuing so for twenty days together: during which time, we were driven a little to the east of the Molucca Islands, and about three degrees northward of the line, as our captain found by an observation he took the 2nd of May, at which time the wind ceased, and it was a perfect calm, whereat I was not a little rejoiced.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

“Fair westerly breeze, with a promise of stiffening, if Louis predicts correctly.”

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)