[south.ern] adj [ME southern, southren, fr. OE sutherne; akin to OHG sundroni southern, OE suth south] (bef. 12c) 1 cap: of, relating to, or characteristic of a region conventionally designated South
2. a: lying toward the south b: coming from the south "a ~ breeze" -- south.ern.most adj -- south.ern.ness n, often cap Southern n (1935): the dialect of English spoken in most of the Chesapeake Bay area, the coastal plain and the greater part of the upland plateau in Virginia, No. Carolina, So. Carolina, and Georgia, and the Gulf states at least as far west as the valley of the Brazos in Texas and sometimes taken to include the south Midland area