Northwest is the direction halfway between north and west. Head northwest, the northwest corner, a northwest wind.
A northwest wind blows from the northwest rather than towards it, which catches people out on forecasts. The Northwest Passage is the sea route over the top of Canada, hunted for centuries and now opening as the ice retreats.
1nounnorthwestThe direction halfway between north and west.
“Heavy snow is expected in the northwest of the country tonight.”
northwest is a direction.
Old English northwest is simply north plus west. The compass points were named this way from the beginning.
Old English
norþwest
Middle English
northwest
English, today
northwest
From Middle English northwest, from Old English norþwest, equivalent to north + west.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA