East Meaning

/iːst/
A2

Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

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nounThe direction of the earth's rotation, specifically 90°.

nounThe eastern region or area; the inhabitants thereof.

The professor gave a lecture on the Middle East.
The strong east wind lashed at our faces.
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
CEFR Practice Quiz
The sun rises in the ____, bringing light to the morning sky.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The professor gave a lecture on the Middle ____.

From Middle English est, from Old English ēast, from Proto-West Germanic *austr, from Proto-Germanic *austrą, from Proto-Germanic *austraz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éwsteros (“east”). Cognates Cognate with Scots aist (“east”), North Frisian uast, ååst, ööst (“east”), Saterland Frisian Aaste (“east”), West Frisian east (“east”), Dutch oost (“east”), German Ost (“east”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål øst (“east”), Faroese eystur (“east”), Icelandic austur (“east”), Norwegian Nynorsk aust, øst (“east”), Swedish ost, öst, öster (“east”); also with Avestan 𐬎𐬱𐬀𐬯𐬙𐬀𐬭𐬀 (ušastara, “eastern”), Latin auster (“south”).

"In a few hours the birds come to it from all points of the compass – east, west, north, and south […]" — 1895, Thomas Hardy, Jude the Obscure:
"We, in the west, agreed amongst ourselves that a penitentiary should be erected with our half of the money arising as above stated; and the east agreed to improve the country in their vicinity with the other half." — 1855, John Reynolds, My Own Times: Embracing Also the History of My Life, page 271:
"A few [Anglican churches in South Carolina, Virginia and Maryland] are oriented other than due [geographic] east—St. Paul's, St. George's, and Prince George's parish churches face northeast and St. Andrew's, southeast. […] Throughout the book I refer directionally to the altar and chancel of St. Andrew's as situated at ecclesiastical east (to avoid overcomplicating matters), not geographical or magnetic southeast. Thus, the altar is located at the east end of the church, and the gallery, at the west." — 2014 April 11, Paul Porwoll, Against All Odds: History of Saint Andrew's Parish Church, Charleston, 1706–2013, Bloomington, Ind.: WestBow Press, →ISBN, pages 364–365:
"However, in Mies' chapel, liturgical east is magnetic west." — 2018, Anat Geva, Modernism and American Mid-20th Century Sacred Architecture, Routledge, →ISBN:
"The tapestry by Graham Sutherland that occupies the whole wall of the liturgical east and geographic north of the cathedral is recognisable to the point of visual exhaustion." — 2019, Sarah Hosking, "Coventry Cathedral", in Prickett Stephen Prickett, Edinburgh Companion to the Bible and the Arts, Edinburgh University Press, →ISBN, page 371:

Explore More A2 Vocabulary Words

CEFR Practice Quiz
The sun rises in the ____, bringing light to the morning sky.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The professor gave a lecture on the Middle ____.

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