southwest by west
- noun
:
suroeste por oeste
- The ship sailed at a course of southwest by west to avoid the storm.
Examples
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We navigated towards southwest by west to reach the harbor safely.
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Our map indicated that the nearest island was located southwest by west from our current position.
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Hold her steady into the wind, southwest by west.
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Holding her steady southwest by west, sir.
Synonyms
A compass direction just west of southwest
Antonyms
- Specialized
A compass direction one point east of northeast, halfway to east-northeast
Surface Forms
Morphology
A learner who knows 'southwest' and 'west' can reasonably infer that 'southwest by west' denotes a direction slightly west of southwest—'by' here has a compass/nautical sense of 'near' or 'next to'. However, the exact technical meaning (one point west of southwest, 236°15′) and the specialized 'X by Y' compass convention are domain-specific and not fully predictable for a B1 learner, so the expression is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Southwest by west comes from old sailors and mapmakers who used a 32-point compass. It literally means a small step from southwest toward west, so it names the direction 'a little west of southwest'.
