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Mariner's compass

Compass \Com"pass\ (k[u^]m"pas), n. [F. compas, fr. LL. compassus circle, prop., a stepping together; com- + passus pace, step. See Pace, Pass.]

  1. A passing round; circuit; circuitous course.

    They fetched a compass of seven day's journey.
    --2 Kings iii. 9.

    This day I breathed first; time is come round, And where I did begin, there shall I end; My life is run his compass.
    --Shak.

  2. An inclosing limit; boundary; circumference; as, within the compass of an encircling wall.

  3. An inclosed space; an area; extent.

    Their wisdom . . . lies in a very narrow compass.
    --Addison.

  4. Extent; reach; sweep; capacity; sphere; as, the compass of his eye; the compass of imagination.

    The compass of his argument.
    --Wordsworth.

  5. Moderate bounds, limits of truth; moderation; due limits; -- used with within.

    In two hundred years before (I speak within compass), no such commission had been executed.
    --Sir J. Davies.

  6. (Mus.) The range of notes, or tones, within the capacity of a voice or instrument.

    You would sound me from my lowest note to the top of my compass.
    --Shak.

  7. An instrument for determining directions upon the earth's surface by means of a magnetized bar or needle turning freely upon a pivot and pointing in a northerly and southerly direction.

    He that first discovered the use of the compass did more for the supplying and increase of useful commodities than those who built workhouses.
    --Locke.

  8. A pair of compasses. [R.] See Compasses.

    To fix one foot of their compass wherever they please.
    --Swift.

  9. A circle; a continent. [Obs.]

    The tryne compas [the threefold world containing earth, sea, and heaven.
    --Skeat.]
    --Chaucer.

    Azimuth compass. See under Azimuth.

    Beam compass. See under Beam.

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

    Compass dial, a small pocket compass fitted with a sundial to tell the hour of the day.

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

    Compass plant, Compass flower (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.

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

    Compass timber (Shipbuilding), curved or crooked timber.

    Compass window (Arch.), a circular bay window or oriel window.

    Mariner's compass, a kind of compass used in navigation. 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.

    Surveyor's compass, an instrument used in surveying for measuring horizontal angles. See Circumferentor.

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

    To fetch a compass, to make a circuit.

Mariner's compass

Mariner \Mar"i*ner\, n. [F. marinier, LL. marinarius. See Marine.] One whose occupation is to assist in navigating ships; a seaman or sailor.
--Chaucer.

Mariner's compass. See under Compass.

Wiktionary
mariner's compass

n. A compass (navigational instrument)

WordNet
mariner's compass

n. compass in the form of a card that rotates so that 0 degrees or North points to magnetic north [syn: compass card]

Usage examples of "mariner's compass".

At one end, a bronze staircase led upward to a circular plate of transparent aluminum adorned with a design that reminded the captain somewhat of a mariner's compass.

He shared with his contemporaries the restless spirit of roving and adventure which resulted from the invention of the mariner's compass and the discovery of the New World.

The mariner's compass had now been invented and men were no longer left to the mercy of a fine night and the stars to determine the direction in which they were sailing, and the Normans, Catalonians and Genoese and Portuguese had already pushed out into the Atlantic as far as the Canary Isles, Madeira and the Azores.

I held my first Mariner's Compass when I was nine, an age when Girls develop unforeseen yet passionate Interests.

The power of the dukes of Naples was circumscribed by the bay and the adjacent isles, by the hostile territory of Capua, and by the Roman colony of Amalphi, ^35 whose industrious citizens, by the invention of the mariner's compass, have unveiled the face of the globe.