English▸ (east) noun
1 the direction towards the point of the horizon where the sun rises at the equinoxes, on the right-hand side of a person facing north, or the point on the horizon itself:
a gale was blowing from the east
the Atlantic Ocean to the east of Florida.
▪ the compass point corresponding to east.
2 the eastern part of the world or of a specified country, region, or town:
a factory in the east of the city.
▪ (the East) the regions or countries lying to the east of Europe, especially China, Japan, and India:
the protection of trade routes to the East.
▪ (the East) historical the former communist states of eastern Europe:
the centrally planned system of the East.
3 (East) Bridge the player sitting to the left of North and partnering West:
East passes and you respond one heart.
▸ adjective [attributive]
1 lying towards, near, or facing the east:
the hospital's east wing.
▪ (of a wind) blowing from the east:
a biting east wind.
▪ situated in the part of a church containing the altar or high altar, usually the actual east:
the liturgical east window is actually in the south wall.
– ORIGIN Old English ēast-, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch oost and German ost, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin aurora, Greek auōs ‘dawn’.