southeast by south
- noun
:
sudeste por sur
- The ship navigated towards southeast by south to avoid the storm.
Examples
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He pointed his compass in the direction of southeast by south to find the right path.
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The weather forecast mentioned that the wind would come from the southeast by south today.
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South-southeast by south.
Synonyms
1
4.7
A compass point halfway between south and southeast
The compass direction halfway between south and southeast
A compass direction a little south of southeast
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is compositionally built from direction words: 'southeast' and 'south' with the preposition 'by' indicating a positional relation, so a learner can infer it denotes a direction slightly more southerly than southeast. However, the precise navigational convention (one compass point = 11°30′, i.e. 157°30′) and the specialized use of 'by' in compass nomenclature are technical and not fully predictable from everyday meanings, so it is not fully transparent to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Southeast by south comes from old sailors who split the compass into many small named steps. It literally means one small step from southeast toward south, so it names 'a direction a little south of southeast'.