Directed or facing toward the air or sky; upward-pointing.
From 'air' plus the directional suffix -ward (from Old English -weard, meaning 'turned toward'). The word emerged in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Medieval builders talked about 'airward-facing' cathedral windows to catch light and wind—it's a poetic way of saying 'facing the sky,' and the word captures a time when humans thought more consciously about their orientation to the elements.
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