astern
/əˈstɜːn/US/əˈstɝn/
astern adverb: behind (a vessel); in the rear.
Adverb
astern (comparative more astern, superlative most astern)
- Behind (a vessel); in the rear.
- After we had row'd, or rather driven about a League and a Half, as we reckon'd it, a raging Wave, Mountain-like, came rowling a-stern of us, and plainly bad us expect the Coup-de-Grace.1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC, page 50
- In the direction of the stern; backward (motion); to the rear.
- At or toward the rear of a vessel.
Adjective
astern (not comparable)
- Behind a vessel; having a bearing of 180 degrees from ahead.
- If one ship is following another, the first is astern of the second.
- When we first espied the Dutch fleet sailing towards us, our whole blue squadron was astern much farther from us, so that Prince Rupert thought it absolutely necessary to slacken sail that they might have time to join us.1838, M. Guizot, edited by J. Stuart Wortley, Memoirs of George Monk, Duke of Albemarle, London: Richard Bentley, page 307
Preposition
astern
- Behind (a vessel); in the rear.
- […]a flock of eight appeared, and alighting on a rope astern the ship, remained there for nearly an hour1841, XVII.—Notice of Migratory Birds Which Alighted On, or Were Seen From, H.M.S. Beacon, Capt. Graves, on the Passage From Malta to the Morea at the End of April 1841
- I watched the soft folds of metallic satin rolling in ever widening furls astern the boat.1948, Roy Wall, The Contemplative Angler
astern meaning in Tamil, Urdu and Malayalam
astern in Tamil
- கப்பலின் பின்பகுதியில், பின்புறமாக
astern in Urdu
- عقب میں, پیچھے
astern in Malayalam
- കപ്പലിൻറെ പിൻഭാഗത്ത്
Examples of astern in a sentence
- Every yachtsman knows that if the ballast of a ship be too afore or too astern.1872, Hunt's Yachting Magazine, volume 21, page 288:
- Lennox was the best given; but, as will be seen, he asserted that from the orders he received the Lennox's course was more astern than ahead.1883, Lieutenant J. Menteith Brebner, RETURN WRECKS AND CASUALTIES IN INDIAN WATERS, page 140:
- but when near Cape Palmas the wind will perhaps be more astern1883, Alexander George Findlay, A Sailing Directory for the Ethiopic Or South Atlantic Ocean:
- The galley fire was lighted; coffee was boiled; the sun shone brightly, and the ship astern was coming up fast.1901, W. Clark Russell, The Ship's Adventure, Westminster: Archibald Constable, page 304:
Antonyms of astern
Forms of astern
| comparative | more astern |
|---|---|
| superlative | most astern |
Origin of astern
From a- (“towards”) + stern (“rear part of a vessel”).
Words formed from astern
Phrases with astern
Words that rhyme with astern
Questions about astern
- What does astern mean?
- Astern means behind (a vessel); in the rear.
- What is astern in Tamil?
- Astern in Tamil is கப்பலின் பின்பகுதியில், பின்புறமாக. See Astern meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use astern in a sentence?
- Every yachtsman knows that if the ballast of a ship be too afore or too astern.
- What part of speech is astern?
- Astern can be an adverb, an adjective or a preposition.
- How do you pronounce astern?
- Astern is pronounced /əˈstɝn/ (US).
Words near astern in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: astern (page history and authors); astern (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); astern (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); astern (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-astern.wav.
Cite this entry: “astern.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/astern. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.