adv. [ Pref. a- + stern. ] (Naut.) 1. In or at the hinder part of a ship; toward the hinder part, or stern; backward; as, to go astern. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Behind a ship; in the rear. “A gale of wind right astern.” De Foe. “Left this strait astern.” Drake. [ 1913 Webster ]

To bake astern, to go stern foremost. --
To be astern of the reckoning, to be behind the position given by the reckoning. --
To drop astern, to fall or be left behind. --
To go astern, to go backward, as from the action of currents or winds. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Pref. a- not + sternal. ] (Anat.) Not sternal; -- said of ribs which do not join the sternum. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ AS. eástern. ] 1. Situated or dwelling in the east; oriental; as, an eastern gate; Eastern countries. [ 1913 Webster ]

Eastern churches first did Christ embrace. Stirling. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Going toward the east, or in the direction of east; as, an eastern voyage. [ 1913 Webster ]

. That portion of the Christian church which prevails in the countries once comprised in the Eastern Roman Empire and the countries converted to Christianity by missionaries from them. Its full official title is The Orthodox Catholic Apostolic Eastern Church. It became estranged from the Western, or Roman, Church over the question of papal supremacy and the doctrine of the filioque, and a separation, begun in the latter part of the 9th century, became final in 1054. The Eastern Church consists of twelve (thirteen if the Bulgarian Church be included) mutually independent churches (including among these the Hellenic Church, or Church of Greece, and the Russian Church), using the vernacular (or some ancient form of it) in divine service and varying in many points of detail, but standing in full communion with each other and united as equals in a great federation. The highest five authorities are the patriarch of Constantinople, or ecumenical patriarch (whose position is not one of supremacy, but of precedence), the patriarch of Alexandria, the patriarch of Jerusalem, the patriarch of Antioch, and the Holy Synod of Russia. The Eastern Church accepts the first seven ecumenical councils (and is hence styled only schismatic, not heretical, by the Roman Catholic Church), has as its creed the Niceno-Constantinopolitan (without the later addition of the filioque, which, with the doctrine it represents, the church decisively rejects), baptizes infants with trine immersion, makes confirmation follow immediately upon baptism, administers the Communion in both kinds (using leavened bread) and to infants as well as adults, permits its secular clergy to marry before ordination and to keep their wives afterward, but not to marry a second time, selects its bishops from the monastic clergy only, recognizes the offices of bishop, priest, and deacon as the three necessary degrees of orders, venerates relics and icons, and has an elaborate ritual. See also Greek Church, under Greek. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. an inhabitant of an eastern area; especially of the eastern U. S. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Most eastern. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Infra + sternal. ] (Anat.) Below the sternum; as, the infrasternal depression, or pit of the stomach. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to the metasternum. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ Pref. meta- + sternum. ] 1. (Anat.) The most posterior element of the sternum; the ensiform process; xiphisternum. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) The ventral plate of the third or last segment of the thorax of insects. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to the northeast; northeasterly. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Of. pasturon, F. pâturon, fr. OF. pasture a tether, for beasts while pasturing; prop., a pasturing. See Pasture. ] 1. The part of the foot of the horse, and allied animals, between the fetlock and the coffin joint. See Illust. of Horse. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The upper bone, or phalanx, of the foot is called the great pastern bone; the second, the small pastern bone; and the third, in the hoof, the coffin bone. [ 1913 Webster ]

Pastern joint, the joint in the hoof of the horse, and allied animals, between the great and small pastern bones. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A shackle for horses while pasturing. Knight. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A patten. [ Obs. ] Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to the southeast; southeasterly. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Anat.) Situated above, or anterior to, the sternum. [ 1913 Webster ]