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down east
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Contents
1
English
1.1
Alternative forms
1.2
Etymology
1.3
Noun
1.4
Adjective
1.5
Adverb
1.6
Derived terms
1.7
References
1.8
Further reading
English
edit
Alternative forms
edit
Down East
Downeast
Etymology
edit
Typically traced to 1817 nautical terminology referring to direction not location: in the warm months, the prevailing winds along the Atlantic coast of New England and Canada blow from the southwest, meaning ships sail downwind to go east.
Noun
edit
down
east
Northeastern
New England
(particularly the easternmost section of the
U.S.
state of
Maine
) and
Canada
's
Maritime provinces
(sometimes including the
Gaspé
Peninsula and
Newfoundland
), an area that corresponds to the historical French territory of
Acadia
.
Adjective
edit
down
east
Of the
Maritimes
,
Maine
or adjoining parts.
Down East
fiddling
Adverb
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down
east
In or into the
Maritimes
,
Maine
or adjoining parts.
Derived terms
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Down Easter
down-easter
References
edit
"
down east
", in
OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire:
Oxford University Press
, launched 2000.
Further reading
edit
Down East
on Wikipedia.
Wikipedia
Categories
:
English lemmas
English proper nouns
English uncountable nouns
English multiword terms
English adjectives
English terms with usage examples
English adverbs
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