easting

[ ee-sting ]

noun

1. Navigation. the distance due east made good on any course tending eastward; easterly departure.
2. a shifting eastward; easterly direction.
3. Surveying. a distance east from a north-south reference line.

easting

/ ˈiːstɪŋ /

noun

1. nautical the net distance eastwards made by a vessel moving towards the east
2. cartography
   1. the distance eastwards of a point from a given meridian indicated by the first half of a map grid reference
   2. a longitudinal grid line Compare northing

Word History and Origins

Origin of easting¹

First recorded in 1620–30; east + -ing ¹

Example Sentences

For three days and nights they fought head winds, trying to make their easting.

From Literature

Foote says he’s still in pain and he’s still easting through a feeding tube.

From Washington Times

In 1991 he won a famous tank engagement against Saddam Hussein’s Republican Guard, the Battle of 73 Easting.

From The Guardian

He first came to public attention in the Battle of 73 Easting in the first Gulf war, when the nine tanks he was commanding in 1991 came up against an estimated 80 Iraqi Republican Guard tanks and other vehicles and – mainly because of technical superiority – destroyed them all, with no loss of life on the American side.

From The Guardian

McMaster commanded troops in both American wars in Iraq — in 1991, when he fought in a storied tank battle known as the Battle of 73 Easting, and again in 2005-2006 in one of the most violent periods of the insurgency that developed after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

From Salon