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Webster 1913 Edition


Direction

Di-rec′tion

,
Noun.
[L.
directio
: cf. F.
direction
.]
1.
The act of directing, of aiming, regulating, guiding, or ordering; guidance; management; superintendence; administration;
as, the
direction
o[GREEK] public affairs or of a bank
.
I do commit his youth
To your
direction
.
Shakespeare
All nature is but art, unknown to thee;
ll chance,
direction
, which thou canst not see.
Pope.
2.
That which is imposed by directing; a guiding or authoritative instruction; prescription; order; command;
as, he grave
directions
to the servants
.
The princes digged the well . . . by the
direction
of the law giver.
Numb. xxi. 18.
3.
The name and residence of a person to whom any thing is sent, written upon the thing sent; superscription; address;
as, the
direction
of a letter
.
4.
The line or course upon which anything is moving or aimed to move, or in which anything is lying or pointing; aim; line or point of tendency; direct line or course;
as, the ship sailed in a southeasterly
direction
.
5.
The body of managers of a corporation or enterprise; board of directors.
Syn. – Administration; guidance; management; superintendence; oversight; government; order; command; guide; clew.
Direction
,
Control
,
Command
,
Order
. These words, as here compared, have reference to the exercise of power over the actions of others. Control is negative, denoting power to restrain; command is positive, implying a right to enforce obedience; directions are commands containing instructions how to act. Order conveys more prominently the idea of authority than the word direction. A shipmaster has the command of his vessel; he gives orders or directions to the seamen as to the mode of sailing it; and exercises a due control over the passengers.

Webster 1828 Edition


Direction

DIRECTION

,
Noun.
[L.]
1.
Aim at a certain point; a pointing towards, in a straight line or course; as, the direction of good works to a good end.
2.
The line in which a body moves by impulse; course. Matter or body cannot alter the direction of its own motion.
3.
A straight line or course. A star appeared int eh direction of a certain tower. The ship sailed in a south-easterly direction.
4.
The act of governing; administration; management; guidance; superintendence; as the direction of public affairs; direction of domestic concerns; the direction of a bank.
5.
Regularity; adjustment.
All chance, direction which thou canst not see.
6.
Order; prescription; either verbal or written; instruction in what manner to proceed. The employer gives directions to his workmen; the physician, to his patient.
7.
The superscription of a letter, including the name, title and place of abode of the person for whom it is intended.
8.
A body or board of directors.

Definition 2024


direction

direction

English

Noun

direction (countable and uncountable, plural directions)

  1. A theoretical line (physically or mentally) followed from a point of origin or towards a destination.
    Keep going in the same direction.
    • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 4, in The Celebrity:
      Judge Short had gone to town, and Farrar was off for a three days' cruise up the lake. I was bitterly regretting I had not gone with him when the distant notes of a coach horn reached my ear, and I descried a four-in-hand winding its way up the inn road from the direction of Mohair.
    • 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, The House Behind the Cedars, Chapter I,
      Just before Warwick reached Liberty Point, a young woman came down Front Street from the direction of the market-house. When their paths converged, Warwick kept on down Front Street behind her, it having been already his intention to walk in this direction.
  2. An general trend for future action.
  3. Guidance, instruction.
    The trombonist looked to the bandleader for direction.
  4. The work of the director in cinema or theater; the skill of directing a film, play etc.
    The screenplay was good, but the direction was weak.
  5. (archaic) An address.
    • 1796, Matthew Lewis, The Monk, Folio Society 1985, page 218:
      Her aunt Leonella was still at Cordova, and she knew not her direction.

Derived terms

Related terms

  • direct
  • under the direction of

Translations

Statistics

Most common English words before 1923: beneath · conversation · music · #836: direction · o' · eight · modern

Anagrams


French

Etymology

Borrowing from Latin dīrēctiō, dīrēctiōnem.

Pronunciation

Noun

direction f (plural directions)

  1. (spatial) direction
  2. (figuratively) direction
  3. government
  4. (figuratively) the director of the administration/organisation
  5. (occasional, figurative) the territory administered by a government

Related terms