western

adj, noun — 10 senses

western

adjalso spelled Western

US /ˈwɛstɚn/ · UK /ˈwɛstən/

Etymology From Middle English westerne, from Old English westerne, from Proto-Germanic *westrōnijaz. By surface analysis, west + -ern.

1

Of, facing, situated in, or related to the west.

  • the western approaches
  • Then everybody once more knelt, and soon the blessing was pronounced. The choir and the clergy trooped out slowly, […], down the nave to the western door. […] At a seemingly immense distance the surpliced group stopped to say the last prayer.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
2

Of a wind, blowing from the west; westerly.

3

Occidental.

  • Japanese is traditionally written downwards (tategaki) and you begin reading from the top right of a page. This means that books are opened from what we would consider to be the back. Nowadays, however, books, newspapers and magazines are often written western style, in horizontal lines (yokogaki) from left to right and, in these cases, the book is opened from our (western) understanding of the front.2008, Helen Gilhooly, chapter 1, in Complete Japanese, →ISBN, page 31:
Derived terms
85 termsAustralian Western Standard Time, Delaware Tribe of Western Oklahoma, Great Western, Mid-Western, pale western cutworm, pro-Western, scrumpy and western, South Western Slopes, western action shooting, Western Armenia, western Asia, Western Australia, western barn owl, western black-eared wheatear, Western Bloc, western blot analysis, western boubou, western brush wallaby, Western Bug, Western Canadian Select, Western Cape, western capercaillie, western cattle egret, Western chess, western chinquapin, Western Creek, western diamondback rattlesnake, Western Downs, western duck sickness, westerner, Western European Time, western fence lizard, western flower thrips, Western Ghats, western gorilla, Western Greece, western grey kangaroo, western gray kangaroo, western hemisphere, western hemlock, western honey bee, western honey mesquite, Western Junction, western marsh harrier, western mastiff bat, Western Mound, Western New Guinea, Western Norway, western olivaceous warbler, western omelet, western Orphean warbler, western osprey, Western Palearctic, Western Palestine, Western parotia, Western pattern diet, western pleasure, western plum, western poison ivy, western poison oak, western prickly juniper, western pygmy blue, western rat snake, western redbud, western red cedar, western red lily, Western Region, western roe deer, western sandpiper, western slaty antshrike, western spindalis, western spinebill, western spotted skunk, Western Springs, western spruce budworm, western subalpine warbler, Western sugar maple, western sugar maple, western sulphur, western taipan, western tanager, western world, western xenica, western yellow pine, western yellow wagtail

western

noun

Etymology From Middle English westerne, from Old English westerne, from Proto-Germanic *westrōnijaz. By surface analysis, west + -ern.

1

Broadcasting, Film, Media, Television A film, or some other dramatic work, set in, the historic (c. 1850–1910) American West (west of the Mississippi river) focusing on conflict between whites and Indians, lawmen and outlaws, ranchers and farmers, or industry (railroads, mining) and agriculture.

Derived terms
acid western, kangaroo Western, meat-pie Western, spaghetti western
Related terms
northern, eastern, southern, north-eastern, south-eastern, south-western, north-western

Western

adj

UK /ˈwɛs.tən/ · US /ˈwɛs.təɹn/

› Of, situated in, or related to the West (in…

1

Of or pertaining to the cultures and traditions of the United States, Canada, Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand (the West).

  • As Western culture became increasingly mechanized in the 1600s, the female earth and virgin earth spirit were subdued by the machine.1989, Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology, and the Scientific Revolution, page 2:
  • He would be as happy with her as he would be with Jennie—almost—and he would have the satisfaction of knowing that this Western social and financial world held no more significant figure than himself.1911, Theodore Dreiser, chapter LVI, in Jennie Gerhardt:
1 more example
  • Born in Penglai, on the coast of Shandong, in 1888, Miss Pruitt grew up in an inland village where for many years hers was the only Western family.1985 August 11, Robert D. McFadden, “Ida Pruitt, 96, who fostered friendship with the Chinese”, in The New York Times (Section 1 section), New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 24 May 2015, page 36:
2

Historical Of or pertaining to the Western Bloc.

3

Of or pertaining to the western United States (the West).

  • He was not the first Northeastern banker to be surprised by what he saw when he stepped off the train into this Western city.
4

South Korea Originating from Europe.

Western

noun
1

Dated An inhabitant of a western region or country.

  • If, again, after studying the life and words of Christ, and comparing them with the Christianity which they see practised in the West, or in the Westerns who reside among them, they are not drawn to Western Christianity […]1909, Theodore Leighton Pennell, Among the Wild Tribes of the Afghan Frontier:
2

A certain genre of fiction (in literature, film, or gaming) dealing with the American Old West; a work in this genre.

  • If I'm going to watch a Western, it needs to be a good one. I had my fill of the bad ones long ago.
Derived terms
28 termsacid Western, Australian Western, contemporary Western, cracker Western, Dacoit Western, electric Western, epic Western, fantasy Western, fasolada Western, Florida Western, Gothic Western, horror Western, kangaroo Western, meat-pie Western, neo-Western, Northern, Ostern, Red Western, revisionist Western, science fiction Western, singing cowboy, space Western, spaghetti Western, urban Western, weird Western, Western Imperium, Western romance, Zapata Western

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — authors: page histories for western and Western.