northeast by east
- noun
- Specialized
:
noreste por este
- Go on, hold her to her course, northeast by east.
Examples
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The ship adjusted its course to northeast by east to avoid the storm.
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When navigating, the captain ordered the vessel to head northeast by east.
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To reach the harbor, sail northeast by east from your current location.
Synonyms
A compass direction between northeast and east-northeast
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is obviously directional because it combines known direction words ('northeast' and 'east'), so a learner can infer it means a direction slightly toward the east from northeast. However, the precise meaning — the navigational convention that 'by east' denotes one compass point east of northeast — is a specialized convention not predictable from the everyday sense of 'by', so it is only partially transparent to a B1 learner.
Etymology
The compass point northeast by east comes from old sailors who used a compass with many small points. The word 'by' meant one step toward east from northeast, placing it between northeast and east-northeast, so the phrase names a very precise 'direction'.
