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:
“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)
“The North has no interest in the particular Negro, but talks of justice for the whole. The South has not interest, and pretends none, in the mass of Negroes but is very much concerned about the individual.”
—Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960)
“The English were very backward to explore and settle the continent which they had stumbled upon. The French preceded them both in their attempts to colonize the continent of North America ... and in their first permanent settlement ... And the right of possession, naturally enough, was the one which England mainly respected and recognized in the case of Spain, of Portugal, and also of France, from the time of Henry VII.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)