What is "hanging compass"

Hanging \Hang"ing\, a.

1. Requiring, deserving, or foreboding death by the halter. ``What a hanging face!''
   --Dryden.

2. Suspended from above; pendent; as, hanging shelves.

3. Adapted for sustaining a hanging object; as, the hanging post of a gate, the post which holds the hinges. Hanging compass, a compass suspended so that the card may be read from beneath. Hanging garden, a garden sustained at an artificial elevation by any means, as by the terraces at Babylon. Hanging indentation. See under Indentation. Hanging rail (Arch.), that rail of a door or casement to which hinges are attached. Hanging side (Mining), the overhanging side of an inclined or hading vein. Hanging sleeves.

   1. Strips of the same stuff as the gown, hanging down the back from the shoulders.

   2. Loose, flowing sleeves. Hanging stile. (Arch.)

      1. That stile of a door to which hinges are secured.

      2. That upright of a window frame to which casements are hinged, or in which the pulleys for sash windows are fastened.

         Hanging wall (Mining), the upper wall of inclined vein, or that which hangs over the miner's head when working in the vein.