Definition of "east"

east

/iːst/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural easts
1. One of the four principal compass points, specifically 90°, conventionally directed to the right on maps; the direction of the rising sun at an equinox.
  Quotations
  In a few hours the birds come to it from all points of the compass – east, west, north, and south […]
  1895, Thomas Hardy, Jude the Obscure
2. The eastern region or area; the inhabitants thereof.
adjective
not comparable
1. Situated or lying in or towards the east; eastward.
2. (meteorology) Blowing (as wind) from the east.
3. Of or pertaining to the east; eastern.
4. From the East; oriental.
5. (ecclesiastical) Designating, or situated in, the liturgical east.
  Quotations
  Throughout the book I refer directionally to the altar and chancel of St. Andrew's as situated at ecclesiastical east (to avoid overcomplicating matters), not geographical or magnetic southeast. Thus, the altar is located at the east end of the church, and the gallery, at the west.
  2014, Paul Porwoll, Against All Odds: History of Saint Andrew's Parish Church, Charleston, 1706-2013, WestBow Press, page 365
  The tapestry by Graham Sutherland that occupies the whole wall of the liturgical east and geographic north of the cathedral is recognisable […] a huge image of Christ on the [liturgical] east end, filling the entire wall and to be visible through the [liturgical] West Window (Fig. 24.2).
  2019, Sarah Hosking, "Coventry Cathedral", in Prickett Stephen Prickett, Edinburgh Companion to the Bible and the Arts, Edinburgh University Press, page 371
adverb
not comparable
1. towards the east; eastwards