Airting

Part of speech: verb, noun

Definitions

1. Pointing or steering someone or something toward a particular direction, as in Scots usage for guiding a course
2. Directing the course of a person or thing toward a chosen way, a dated Scottish term for steering or aiming
3. Guiding or aiming something in a specific direction, an archaic and regional way of describing navigation or direction

Etymology: "Airting" is the present participle and gerund of "airt", a Scots verb meaning to direct or steer toward a place. The verb itself comes from Scots "airt", and it is a word that has stayed largely within Scotland's own vocabulary rather than travelling into standard English. Its noun sense, the act of steering or guiding in a direction, follows the same path as the verb. The word's most memorable quality is how closely it ties direction to the act of setting a course, the way a traveller might be airted toward a village over the hill. That sense of pointing someone or something onward gives the word its practical, rural flavour.

Synonyms: directing, guiding, steering