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)
“Exporting Church employees to Latin America masks a universal and unconscious fear of a new Church. North and South American authorities, differently motivated but equally fearful, become accomplices in maintaining a clerical and irrelevant Church. Sacralizing employees and property, this Church becomes progressively more blind to the possibilities of sacralizing person and community.”
—Ivan Illich (b. 1926)
“It is the sea that whitens the roof.
The sea drifts through the winter air.
It is the sea that the north wind makes.
The sea is in the falling snow.
This gloom is the darkness of the sea.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)