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north

nounadjectiveadverbverbcommon in dialogue

  • United Kingdom//nɔːθ//
  • United Kingdom//noːθ//
  • United States//noɹθ//
  • United States/[no̞ɹθ]/
  • //noɹt//

The direction towards the pole to the left-hand side of someone facing east, specifically 0°, or (on another celestial object) the direction towards the pole lying on the northern side of the invariable plane.

noun

  1. 1

    The direction towards the pole to the left-hand side of someone facing east, specifically 0°, or (on another celestial object) the direction towards the pole lying on the northern side of the invariable plane.

    Minnesota is in the north of the USA.

  2. 2

    The up or positive direction.

    Stock prices are heading back towards the north.

  3. 3

    The positive or north pole of a magnet, which seeks the magnetic pole near Earth's geographic North Pole (which, for its magnetic properties, is a south pole).

  4. 4

    In a church: the direction to the left-hand side of a person facing the altar.

    If candidates stand on the liturgical south facing the presider and liturgical assistants on the liturgical north, it will present better visual lines for the congregation than if they stand facing east and west with their backs toward the congregation.

    Many early Christian basilicas were designed with twin ambos for the proclamation of the epistle (on the liturgical south side) and the Gospel (on the north). The separation of the ambos indicated the distinction that should be accorded the Gospel, which was proclaimed from the north as if evangelization needed to happen to the geographically southern part of the world.

    At St. Andrew's, ecclesiastical north, south, east, and west correspond to geographical northeast, southwest, southeast, and northwest.

    The new St Mary's Anglican Church, Walkerville, has an attached rectory flanking to the liturgical south and an attached parish hall flanking to the liturgical north, both half-timbered in the Tudor Revival style. [Referring to a church that is oriented SSE, making "south" WSW]

  5. 5

    Variant of NorthAlternative letter-case form of North (“a northern region; the inhabitants thereof”).

    […] and after independence the north clung to sugar production longer than the south, with the result that when the north took […]

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *nér Proto-Indo-European *-teros Proto-Indo-European *nŕ̥t(e)ros Proto-Germanic *nurþraz Proto-West Germanic *norþr Old English norþ Middle English north English north From Middle English north, from Old English norþ, from Proto-West Germanic *norþr, from Proto-Germanic *nurþrą, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *nér (“below (the surface)”). The meaning developed either from "region where the sun is below (the earth)" or from "left side of someone who turns to the east when praying". Cognates Cognate with various Germanic counterparts such as Yola noardth, nordh (“north”), North Frisian noor, nord, nuurd, Nuurđ (“north”), Saterland Frisian Noude, Nudde (“north”), West Frisian noard (“north”), Dutch noord (“north”), German Nord (“north”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk nord (“north”), Faroese and Icelandic norður (“north”), Swedish nord, norr (“north”); also with Ancient Greek νέρτερος (nérteros), ἐνέρτερος (enérteros, “below”), Russian нора (nora, “hole”), Lithuanian nėrõvė (“mermaid, nymph”), Oscan 𐌍𐌄𐌓𐌕𐌓𐌀𐌊 (nertrak, “left”), Umbrian nertru (“left”), Sanskrit नरक (naraka, “hell”), Tocharian B ñor (“below”).

adjective

  1. 1

    Of or pertaining to the north; northern.

    He lived in north Germany.

    She entered through the north gate.

  2. 2

    Toward the north; northward.

    Napoleon ordered Villeneuve north to France.

    The most dangerous ones are those that develop during October and November and that follow a north path affecting the western part of the island.

  3. 3

    Of wind, from the north.

    The north wind was cold.

  4. 4

    Pertaining to the part of a corridor used by northbound traffic.

    north highway 1

    Traffic was doing the speed limit on North I-45 one minute and had come to a stand-still the next.

  5. 5

    Designating, or situated in, the liturgical north (in a church, the direction to the left-hand side of a person facing the altar).

    […] the high church had liked its clergy to preside at the Eucharist in an ad orientem position; the low church advocated what was called the north end position; but the Liturgical Movement asked the priest to take a basilical position, facing liturgical west, and now both Anglican factions could agree on this third position without either of them losing face.

  6. 6

    More or greater than.

    The wedding ended up costing north of $50,000.

    The price you're offering had better be north of the highest price this company has ever traded for.

    Some of the windscreens we replace cost north of $1800[.]

adverb

  1. 1

    Toward the north; northward; northerly.

    Switzerland is north of Italy.

    We headed north.

verb

  1. 1

    obsoleteTo turn or move toward the north.

    When at B you had northed 3.71[…]

Forms

plural
norths
comparative
further north, farther north
superlative
furthest north, farthest north
past tense
northed
past participle
northed
present participle
northing
third person singular
norths
The neighbouring pagesAlphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.

Lexical content from Wiktionary, under CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source entry · Data version 2026-08-23

Rank among the words of the OpenSubtitles 2018 corpus — film and television subtitles, so spoken rather than written usage (CC BY-SA 3.0).