English edit

Etymology edit

From shore +‎ -ward.

Adjective edit

shoreward (not comparable)

  1. In the direction of the shoreline, relatively speaking.
    • 1903 July, Jack London, “For the Love of a Man”, in The Call of the Wild, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC, pages 175–176:
      When he felt him grasp his tail, Buck headed for the bank, swimming with all his splendid strength. But the progress shoreward was slow; the progress down-stream amazingly rapid.
    • 1950 March, H. A. Vallance, “On Foot Across the Forth Bridge”, in Railway Magazine, page 148:
      The shoreward arms of the north and south cantilevers were built into masonry abutments.
  2. Facing the shore.
    • 1883 June 30 – October 20, Robert Louis Stevenson, chapter V, in The Black Arrow: A Tale of the Two Roses, London, Paris: Cassell & Company, [], published 1888, →OCLC:
      If their enemies were really on the watch, if they had beleaguered the shoreward end of the pier, he and Lord Foxham were taken in a posture of poor defence []
    • 2020 July 29, Dr Joseph Brennan, “Railways that reach out over the waves”, in Rail, page 49, photo caption:
      Felixstowe's pier was cut short during the Second World War as an anti-invasion measure. Although its pierhead was subsequently demolished in the 1950s, a new £3 million shoreward building opened in August 2017.

Synonyms edit

Antonyms edit

Adverb edit

shoreward (not comparable)

  1. Toward the shore.

Noun edit

shoreward (uncountable)

  1. The side facing the shore.
    • 1582, chapter 2, in Nicholas Lichefield, transl., The First Booke of the Historie of the Discoverie and Conquest of the East Indias [] set foorth in the Portingale language by Hernan Lopes de Castaneda[1], London: Thomas East:
      [] when they sawe our boates comming to the shoreward, they began to runne away, with a great clamour and outcrie []