astern

/əs'tə:n/

Thân thiện

The captain looked astern to see what the fuss was about.

Definition

1. Adverb:
   • Behind a vessel or aircraft: Located or moving in a position behind a ship or airplane.
   • At or toward the rear (stern) of a vessel or tail of an aircraft: In, at, or toward the back part of a ship or the tail section of an airplane.
   • Backward, in reverse: Moving a ship backward through the water by reversing its engines or sails.

Examples

• Adverb:
  • The smaller boat followed astern of the cruise ship. (The smaller boat was positioned behind the cruise ship.)
  • The captain walked astern to check the wake. (The captain walked toward the rear of the ship.)
  • The captain ordered the engines full speed astern to avoid the collision. (The captain ordered the engines to full reverse power.)

Advanced Usage

• "To fall/drop astern": To fall behind or lag behind another vessel.
  • Our old sailboat soon dropped astern of the faster yachts.
• "Full speed astern": A command for a ship's engines to operate at maximum power in reverse.
  • Upon seeing the reef, the pilot shouted, "Full speed astern!"
• "With the wind abaft": With the wind coming from behind the ship (a related nautical context for positioning).
  • The schooner made good time with the wind abaft.

Variants and Related Words

• Aft (adverb): At, near, or toward the stern of a ship.
  • The crew gathered aft for the meeting.
• Stern (noun): The rear part of a ship or boat.
  • The ship's name was painted on the stern.

Synonyms

• Behind: At or to the far side of something.
• Abaft: In a position behind a ship (more technical nautical term).
• Rearward: Toward the back.

Related Phrases

• Astern of: A phrase used to specify being behind a particular object or vessel.
  • The tugboat positioned itself astern of the barge.
• Go astern: To move a ship backward.
  • The ferry had to go astern to realign with the dock.

Related Idioms

(No common idioms are directly centered on the word "astern." It is primarily a technical term.)

Học thuật

Adverb

1. (of a ship or an airplane) behind
   • we dropped her astern on the end of a seven-inch manilla, and she laid comfortably on the ebb tide
2. at or near or toward the stern of a ship or tail of an airplane
   • stow the luggage aft
   • ships with square sails sail fairly efficiently with the wind abaft
   • the captain looked astern to see what the fuss was about
3. stern foremost or backward
   • the steamer went astern at half speed

Từ đồng nghĩa

• aft
• abaft