I. _wə(r)d adjective suffix
also -wards -dz
Etymology: -ward from Middle English, from Old English -weard; akin to Old High German -wart, -wert, -ward, Old Norse -verthr, Gothic -wairths, Latin vertere to turn — more at worth; -wards from -wards, adverb suffix
1. : that moves, tends, faces, or is directed toward
migration city ward — V.D.Reed
the door on the river ward side — D.C.Peattie
advances land wards from the … coast — W.G.East
hat with the crown up ward — William Cowper
2. : that occurs or is situated in the direction of
sunrise to right, sunset left ward — George Meredith
II.
or -wards “{fl>adverb suffix{
Etymology: -ward from Middle English, from Old English -weard, from -weard, adjective suffix; -wards from Middle English, from Old English -weardes, gen. singular neuter of -weard, adjective suffix
1. : in a (specified) spatial or temporal direction
signals beamed up ward from the ground — F.B.Colton
the war has gone north ward — H.L.Matthews
after ward vigilantism broke loose — V.H.Jensen
the coastal plain … is confined land wards by … mountains — W.G.East
2. : toward a (specified) point, position, or area
bent earth ward by a thousand gales — Norman Douglas
equator ward from this latitude — Science