# east

Pronunciation: say "EEST" /iːst/

## Noun

1. The compass direction at 90 degrees, toward which the earth rotates and in which the sun rises.
   - Simple: The direction the sun comes up from, shown as 90 degrees on a compass.
   - _The town lies about ten miles to the east of the airport._
   - _A cold wind blew steadily from the east all afternoon._
5. The eastern part of a country or area, or the people who live in it.
   - Simple: The eastern part of a place, or the people who live there.
   - _Rainfall is heaviest in the east, where the hills meet the coast._
   - _The east wanted the new railroad, while the west wanted lower taxes._

## Adjective

2. Located in the east, or lying toward the east.
   - Simple: On the side or in the part that is toward the east.
   - _The east bank of the river floods almost every spring._
   - _Visitors enter the park through the east gate on Maple Avenue._
8. Of a wind, blowing from the east.
   - Simple: Coming from the east, used about wind.
   - _A raw east wind swept across the harbor and kept the boats in port._
   - _Sailors waited three days for the east wind to drop before setting out._

## Adverb

3. In the direction of the east.
   - Simple: Going or facing toward the east.
   - _Turn east at the next light and follow the river into town._
   - _The storm is moving east and should reach the coast by morning._

## Proper noun · East

4. The Eastern world: the regions, mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere, whose cultures derive from those of Arabia, India, Persia, or China.
   - Simple: The lands, mostly in the eastern half of the world, whose ways of life come from Arabia, India, Persia or China.
   - _The silks, spices, and porcelain of the East fetched high prices in European ports._
   - _Many travelers wrote about the East without ever learning a word of its languages._
6. The states in the eastern part of the United States.
   - Simple: The states on the eastern side of the United States.
   - _After twenty years in Montana, he moved back East to be near his family._
   - _Investors from the East poured money into the mining towns of the West._
7. The Eastern Bloc; more generally, the countries in the eastern part of Europe.
   - Simple: The Soviet Union and its allies in the Cold War, or more generally the countries of eastern Europe.
   - _Wages in the East are still well below those in Germany or France._
   - _Western radio stations broadcast news to listeners across the East._

## Other meanings

- (adjective) Coming from or belonging to the Eastern world, especially Asia.
- (adjective) Located at, or naming, the liturgical east of a church, the end where the altar stands.
- (noun) In a church, the direction of the altar and chancel, which is also the direction a priest faces when celebrating ad orientem.
- (proper noun) The wind from the east, imagined as a person or a living power.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–3, 5, 8** — From Middle English est, from Old English ēast, through Proto-Germanic *austrą from an Indo-European root meaning "to shine, dawn": east is the direction of sunrise. Latin aurora and Greek ēōs ("dawn") share the root, and Dutch oost and German Ost are close cousins.
**Meanings 4, 6–7** — From the noun east, used as a proper name for eastern regions, the east wind, or people from the east.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/east (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).