toward

From Middle English toward, from Old English tōweard, equivalent to to +‎ -ward.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /təˈwɔːd/
• (General American) IPA^(key): (historical) /tɔɹd/; (more recent) /ˈtwɔɹd/, /təˈwɔɹd/
• (rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): (historical) /to(ː)ɹd/; (more recent) /ˈtwo(ː)ɹd/, /təˈwɔɹd/
• (non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): (historical) /toəd/; (more recent) /ˈtwoəd/, /təˈwɔɹd/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /tɘˈwoːd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)d
• Hyphenation: to‧ward

toward (chiefly US)

1. In the direction of.

   She moved toward the door.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Numbers 24:1:

     He set his face toward the wilderness.

   • 1914, Louis Joseph Vance, chapter III, in Nobody, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, published 1915, →OCLC:

     Turning back, then, toward the basement staircase, she began to grope her way through blinding darkness, but had taken only a few uncertain steps when, of a sudden, she stopped short and for a little stood like a stricken thing, quite motionless save that she quaked to her very marrow in the grasp of a great and enervating fear.

   • 2019, VOA Learning English (public domain)

     China has claimed that South Korea’s dust flies toward Shanghai.

     Audio (US)

     (file)

2. In relation to (someone or something).

   What are your feelings toward him?

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Deuteronomy 28:54:

     So that the man that is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his children which he shall leave

3. For the purpose of attaining (an aim).

   I'm saving money toward retirement.

4. Located close to; near (a time or place).

   Our place is over toward the station.

   • January 8, 1723, Jonathan Swift, letter to John Gay

     I am toward nine years older since I left you.

• Although some have tried to discern a semantic distinction between the words toward and towards, the only difference in practice is dialectal. Toward is more common in American English and towards is more common in British English, though each form may be found in both varieties.

• towards

• away from, froward, fromward

toward (not comparable)

1. Yielding, pliant; docile; ready or apt to learn; not froward.
2. (obsolete) Future; to-come.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     ere that wished day his beame disclosd, / He either enuying my toward good, / Or of himselfe to treason ill disposd / One day vnto me came in friendly mood [...]

3. (dated) Approaching, coming near; impending; present, at hand.
   • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene vi]:

     Do you hear aught, sir, of a battle toward?

   • 1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “Practical Devotional”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book II (The Ancient Monk), page 70:

     On the morrow, after mass, our Lord Abbot [Samson of Tottington] orders the Cellerarius to send off his carpenters to demolish the said structure brevi manu, and lay up the wood in safe keeping. Old Dean Herbert, hearing what was toward, comes tottering along hither, to plead humbly for himself and his mill.

4. (obsolete or archaic) Promising, likely.
   • c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:

     Why, that is spoken like a toward prince.

   • 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “A Description of the Farmer’s Daughter. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part II (A Voyage to Brobdingnag), page [178]:

     My Miſtreſs had a Daughter of nine Years old, a Child of toward Parts for her Age, very dextrous at her Needle, and ſkilful in dreſſing her Baby.

• (future): coming; see also Thesaurus:future
• (approaching): imminent, in the offing, proximate; see also Thesaurus:impending

• to-draw, todraw

• towarde, towar, towart, touard, touarde, touwar, touward, touwarde, towerd, towert, taward, tawarde, tawart, twoward, tort, toweard, towearde, towerd, towarð, towweard, touwward

From Old English tōweard, tōwærd; equivalent to to +‎ -ward.

toward

1. In the direction of; toward.
   • 1387–1400, [Geoffrey] Chaucer, “The [Clerkys] Tale [of Oxenford]”, in The Tales of Caunt́burẏ (Hengwrt Chaucer; Peniarth Manuscript 392D), Aberystwyth, Ceredigion: National Library of Wales, published c. 1400–1410], →OCLC, folio 184, verso, lines 783-784:

     Toward Saluces / shapyng hir iourney / ffro day to day / they ryden in hir wey […]

     Towards Saluzzo they make their journey, / From day to day they ride on their way […]

2. Into the presence of.
3. In proximity to; near, by.
4. In an exchange or communication with; to.
   • c. 1190 - 1215, Layamon, Laȝamon's Brut

     Þe while þe he spac touward Goden.

5. Having a wont or tendency towards.
6. Similar to.
7. Subject to; under the control of.
8. Useful for; prepared for.

• as toward

• English: toward

toward

1. Future, forthcoming; to come.
2. Near at hand; imminent, nigh.
3. Moving forth.
4. of goodwill, benevolent; well-tempered, gentle.

• towardnesse

• English: toward

toward

1. In a given direction, typically toward something specific.
2. Nearly, almost.

• toward and froward

• “toward, prep.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 15 April 2018.
• “toward, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 15 April 2018.
• “toward, adv.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 15 April 2018.