norths

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of north.

   Surveyors must reconcile the two norths before plotting a route.

   Older charts sometimes show several norths depending on the reference used.

   Note

   A plural only makes sense where north can be counted. As a plain direction it usually stays uncountable, but once several reference points are in play, such as true north against magnetic north, each becomes its own north and the plural follows. The same counting applies to the north poles of magnets and to the regions called the North, where the capital is optional.

2. 2
   verbobsolete

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of north. Obsolete.

   Note

   An inflection of a verb that is now obsolete: to north meant to turn or move toward the north. The verb is intransitive, so norths never takes an object. A road or river norths, but nothing is northed by it. Today the form reads as a deliberate archaism, and the everyday way to say the same thing is heads north or turns north.

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