west vs westerwards

west

adv
  • Towards the west; westwards. 

verb
  • To move to the west; (of the sun) to set. 

adj
  • Situated or lying in or toward the west; westward. 

  • From the West; occidental. 

  • Of or pertaining to the west; western. 

  • Designating, or situated in, the liturgical west, that part of a church which is opposite to, and farthest from, the part containing the chancel. 

  • Of wind: from the west. 

noun
  • One of the four principal compass points, specifically 270°, conventionally directed to the left on maps; the direction of the setting sun at an equinox. 

  • In a church: the direction of the gallery, opposite to the altar, and opposite to the direction faced by the priest when celebrating ad orientem. 

  • The western region or area; the inhabitants thereof. 

westerwards

adv
  • Synonym of westwards 

How often have the words west and westerwards occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )