compass : Idioms & Phrases

• a compass resembling the mariner's compass, but having the card divided into degrees instead of rhumbs, and having vertical sights; used for taking the magnetic azimuth of a heavenly body, in order to find, by comparison with the true azimuth, the variation of the needle.

Webster 1913

• an instrument consisting of a rod or beam, having sliding sockets that carry steel or pencil points; used for drawing or describing large circles.

Webster 1913

• . See Bow-compass.

Webster 1913

Bow"-com`pass noun

Wordforms

plural Bow-compasses

Definitions

1. An arcograph.
2. A small pair of compasses, one leg of which carries a pencil, or a pen, for drawing circles. Its legs are often connected by a bow-shaped spring, instead of by a joint.
3. A pair of compasses, with a bow or arched plate riveted to one of the legs, and passing through the other.

Webster 1913

• . See Calipers.

Webster 1913

• . See Calipers.

Webster 1913

• noun one of the four main compass points
  

WordNet

• noun compass in the form of a card that rotates so that 0 degrees or North points to magnetic north
  compass card.
  

WordNet

• the eircular card attached to the needles of a mariner's compass, on which are marked the thirty-two points or rhumbs.

Webster 1913

• a small pocket compass fitted with a sundial to tell the hour of the day.

Webster 1913

• noun any of several plants having leaves so arranged on the axis as to indicate the cardinal points of the compass
  compass flower.
  

WordNet

• noun the direction in which a compass needle points
  magnetic north; north.
  

WordNet

• noun a plane with a flexible face that can plane concave or convex surfaces
  circular plane.
  

WordNet

• (Carp.), a plane, convex in the direction of its length on the under side, for smoothing the concave faces of curved woodwork.

Webster 1913

• noun North American annual with red or rose-colored flowers
  Lotus americanus; prairie lotus; prairie bird's-foot trefoil; prairie trefoil.
  
• noun any of several plants having leaves so arranged on the axis as to indicate the cardinal points of the compass
  compass flower.
  

WordNet

• (Bot.), a plant of the American prairies (Silphium laciniatum), not unlike a small sunflower; rosinweed. Its lower and root leaves are vertical, and on the prairies are disposed to present their edges north and south.

  Its leaves are turned to the north as true as the magnet: This is the compass flower. Longefellow.

Webster 1913

• noun any of 32 horizontal directions indicated on the card of a compass
  point.
  
  • he checked the point on his compass

WordNet

• noun a handsaw with a narrow triangular blade for cutting curves
  

WordNet

• a saw with a narrow blade, which will cut in a curve; called also fret saw and keyhole saw.

Webster 1913

• (Shipbuilding), curved or crooked timber.

Webster 1913

• (Arch.), a circular bay window or oriel window. It has two or more magnetic needles permanently attached to a card, which moves freely upon a pivot, and is read with reference to a mark on the box representing the ship's head. The card is divided into thirty-two points, called also rhumbs, and the glass-covered box or bowl containing it is suspended in gimbals within the binnacle, in order to preserve its horizontal position.

Webster 1913

• (Physics), a compass arranged for finding the declination of the magnetic needle.

Webster 1913

• the horizontal angle which the magnetic needle makes with the true north-and-south line.

Webster 1913

• the angle which the needle of a ship's compass makes with the magnetic meridian by reason of the magnetism of the iron parts of the ship.

Webster 1913

• an instrument arranged for drawing ellipses.

Webster 1913

• a compass or divider capable of delicate adjustment by means of a screw.

Webster 1913

• a compass suspended so that the card may be read from beneath.

Webster 1913

• an inclinometer.

Webster 1913

• noun compass based on an indicator (as a magnetic needle) that points to the magnetic north
  

WordNet

• noun compass in the form of a card that rotates so that 0 degrees or North points to magnetic north
  compass card.
  

WordNet

• . See under Compass.

Webster 1913

• (Naut.), the thirty-two points of division of the compass card in the mariner's compass; the corresponding points by which the circle of the horizon is supposed to be divided, of which the four marking the directions of east, west, north, and south, are called cardinal points, and the rest are named from their respective directions, as N. by E., N. N. E., N. E. by N., N. E., etc. See Illust. under Compass.

Webster 1913

• (Surv.), a compass having a prism for viewing a distant object and the compass card at the same time.

Webster 1913

• . See under Proportional, etc.

Webster 1913

• (Draughting), instruments used in making copies of drawings, or drawings of objects, on an enlarged or reduced scale.

Webster 1913

• noun a direction finder that gives a bearing by determining the direction of incoming radio signals
  

WordNet

Sea" com"pass

Definitions

1. The mariner's compass. See under Compass.

Webster 1913

• . See Circumferentor.
• an instrument used in surveying for measuring horizontal angles. See Circumferentor.

Webster 1913

• (Naut.), to name the thirty-two points of the compass in their order.

Webster 1913

• (Naut.), to make a sircuit; to take a circuitious route going to a place.
• to make a circuit.

Webster 1913

• to observe and note the bearing or situation of by the compass.

Webster 1913

• . See Transit, 5, above.

Webster 1913

• compasses with three legs for taking off the angular points of a triangle, or any three points at the same time.

Webster 1913

• a compass of delicate construction, used in observations on the variations of the needle.

Webster 1913

• a surveyor's compass with a vernier for the accurate adjustment of the zero point in accordance with magnetic variation.

Webster 1913