North is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.
North is one of the four cardinal directions or compass points. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west.
By convention, the top side of a map is north.
To go north using a compass for navigation, set a bearing or azimuth of 0° or 360°.
North is specifically the direction that, in Western culture, is treated as the fundamental direction:
- North is used (explicitly or implicitly) to define all other directions.
- The (visual) top edges of maps usually correspond to the northern edge of the area represented, unless explicitly stated otherwise or landmarks are considered more useful for that territory than specific directions.
- On any rotating object, north denotes the side appearing to rotate counter-clockwise when viewed from afar along the axis of rotation.
Read more about North: Etymology, Magnetic North and Declination, Roles of North As Prime Direction, Roles of East and West As Inherently Subsidiary Directions, Cultural References
Famous quotes containing the word north:
“I do not speak with any fondness but the language of coolest history, when I say that Boston commands attention as the town which was appointed in the destiny of nations to lead the civilization of North America.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“We might hypothetically possess ourselves of every technological resource on the North American continent, but as long as our language is inadequate, our vision remains formless, our thinking and feeling are still running in the old cycles, our process may be “revolutionary” but not transformative.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)
“Civilization must be destroyed. The hairy saints
Of the North have earned this crumb by their complaints.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)