Herward

Part of speech: adverb

Definitions

1. Archaic adverb meaning in the direction of a female person, moving or facing toward her
2. Old-fashioned term describing motion or orientation directed toward a woman or feminine figure
3. Toward her, used in older English to indicate a course or direction leading to a particular woman

Etymology: Herward is an Old English word, "hierweard" in its earlier spelling, built from "hider" (here, hither) and the suffix "-weard," meaning "toward." Together they mean "toward here" or, as a near-synonym, toward this place. Because the suffix appears in many Old English compounds (such as "norþweard" for northward), the word is a straightforward combination rather than a loan. Its form has since been reshaped by sound changes, and the modern "herward" is largely a spelling survival of that older compound. Note that the gloss "toward a woman" in your context does not match the word's documented history: the element "her" here relates to "hider," not to the pronoun "her" for a woman. The compound's meaning is directional, and the sense about a woman is a confusion of its spelling with the pronoun.

Synonyms: hitherward, hither

Antonyms: thitherward, thither