West is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.
West is one of the four cardinal directions or compass points. It is the opposite of east and is perpendicular to north and south.
To go west using a compass for navigation, one needs to set a bearing or azimuth of 270°.
West is the direction opposite that of the Earth's rotation on its axis, and is therefore the general direction towards which the Sun sets.
During the Cold War "the West" was often used to refer to the NATO camp as opposed to the Warsaw Pact and non-aligned nations. The expression survives, with an increasingly ambiguous meaning.
Moving continuously west is following a circle of latitude, which, except in the case of the equator, is not a great circle.
The word west is derived from the name of one of the four dwarves in Norse mythology, Norðri, Suðri, Austri and Vestri, who each represented one of the directions of the world. cf Greek hesperus and Roman vesper.
Read more about West: Symbolic Meanings
Famous quotes containing the word west:
“These were not men, they were battlefields. And over them, like the sky, arched their sense of harmony, their sense of beauty and rest against which their misery and their struggles were an offence, to which their misery and their struggles were the only approaches they could make, of which their misery and their struggles were an integral part.”
—Rebecca West (1892–1983)
“Right now I think censorship is necessary; the things they’re doing and saying in films right now just shouldn’t be allowed. There’s no dignity anymore and I think that’s very important.”
—Mae West (1892–1980)
“... it matters not what natural endowment a race may have if it prostitutes itself to the service of death.”
—Rebecca West (1892–1983)