Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adverb & adjective Behind a vessel.
- adverb & adjective At or to the stern of a vessel.
- adverb & adjective With or having the stern foremost; backward.
from The Century Dictionary.
- At or toward the hinder part of a ship: as, to go astern.
- Behind, at any indefinite distance: as, the ship was far astern of us.
- In the direction of the stern; backward; back; to the rear: said of a ship: as, the current drove us far astern.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adverb (Naut.) In or at the hinder part of a ship; toward the hinder part, or stern; backward.
- adverb Behind a ship; in the rear.
- adverb to go stern foremost.
- adverb to be behind the position given by the reckoning.
- adverb to fall or be left behind.
- adverb to go backward, as from the action of currents or winds.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adverb nautical Beyond the
stern when viewed fromaboard . - adjective nautical
behind
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adverb (of a ship or an airplane) behind
- adverb stern foremost or backward
- adverb at or near or toward the stern of a ship or tail of an airplane
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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"Glad to hear it," returned the other, who could read our name astern as she lay athwart us.
The Ghost Ship A Mystery of the Sea Henry [Illustrator] Austin
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I demanded: but the next moment I heard his call astern and knew that, monkey-like, he had got her over and was aboard her somehow.
The Lady and the Pirate Being the Plain Tale of a Diligent Pirate and a Fair Captive Emerson Hough 1890
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'midship-house, and Charles Davis lies about him nursing a marlin-spike, and Christian Jespersen, miles astern, is deep sunk in the sea with a sack of coal at his feet.
CHAPTER XVI 2010
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'midship-house, and Charles Davis lies about him nursing a marlin - spike, and Christian Jespersen, miles astern, is deep sunk in the sea with a sack of coal at his feet.
Chapter 16 1914
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By all rules of tactical common-sense it would seem that the other ships should have taken their distance from their next astern, that is, should have closed toward the centre.
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The rudder is gone, and we have sprung a leak astern which is more than we can stop.
Armadale 2003
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Only a very few of these, of course, lay anywhere near the city's direct line - of flight-indeed, many of them were scattered "astern" (that is, under the keel of the city), in the imaginary - hemisphere on the other side of his home Sun.
Cities In Flight Blish, James 1957
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The word "astern" was given as soon as the harpoon was thrown.
The Von Toodleburgs Or, The History of a Very Distinguished Family A. R. [Illustrator] Waud
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Besides these she possessed two "astern" turbines and two cruising turbines -- all four on the wing shafts.
The Wreck of the Titan or, Futility Morgan Robertson 1888
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The rudder is gone, and we have sprung a leak astern which is more than we can stop.
Armadale Wilkie Collins 1856
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