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Compass   /kˈəmpəs/   Listen
noun
Compass  n.  
1.
A passing round; circuit; circuitous course. "They fetched a compass of seven day's journey." "This day I breathed first; time is come round, And where I did begin, there shall I end; My life is run his compass."
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."
4.
Extent; reach; sweep; capacity; sphere; as, the compass of his eye; the compass of imagination. "The compass of his argument."
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."
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."
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."
8.
A pair of compasses. (R.) See Compasses. "To fix one foot of their compass wherever they please."
9.
A circle; a continent. (Obs.) "The tryne compas (the threefold world containing earth, sea, and heaven.)"
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." 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.


verb
Compass  v. t.  (past & past part. compassed; pres. part. compassing)  
1.
To go about or entirely round; to make the circuit of. "Ye shall compass the city seven times." "We the globe can compass soon."
2.
To inclose on all sides; to surround; to encircle; to environ; to invest; to besiege; used with about, round, around, and round about. "With terrors and with clamors compassed round." "Now all the blessings Of a glad father compass thee about." "Thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round."
3.
To reach round; to circumvent; to get within one's power; to obtain; to accomplish. "If I can check my erring love, I will: If not, to compass her I'll use my skill." "How can you hope to compass your designs?"
4.
To curve; to bend into a circular form. (Obs. except in carpentry and shipbuilding.)
5.
(Law) To purpose; to intend; to imagine; to plot. "Compassing and imagining the death of the king are synonymous terms; compassing signifying the purpose or design of the mind or will, and not, as in common speech, the carrying such design to effect."





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Compass" Quotes from Famous Books



... classes prove that, then," she replied, "in their actions now. If it be true, as I would fain believe it to be, let them show that they are willing to give up their will to God's will; to compass those social reforms by the means which God puts in their way, and wait for His own good time to give them, or not to give them, those means which they in their own minds prefer. This is what I meant by saying that Chartism must die to itself before it ...
— Alton Locke, Tailor And Poet • Rev. Charles Kingsley et al
... they managed to get 11-1/2 miles south and to Camp 29 at 7 P.M. The man-haulers, however, camped after six miles, for they found it impossible to steer a course. 'We (Scott and Bowers) steered with compass, the drifting snow across our ski, and occasional glimpses of southeasterly sastrugi under them, till the sun showed dimly for the last hour or so. The whole weather conditions seem thoroughly disturbed, ...
— The Voyages of Captain Scott - Retold from 'The Voyage of the "Discovery"' and 'Scott's - Last Expedition' • Charles Turley
... is excited, the principle of what is right and honourable arises; which can agree with some one of these three divisions; so that it is honourable to do everything for the sake of pleasure, even if you do not obtain it; or else for the sake of avoiding pain, though you may not be able to compass that; or else of getting some one of those things which are according to nature. And thus it comes about that there is as much difference between the chief good and the chief evil as there is in their natural principles. Others ...
— The Academic Questions • M. T. Cicero
... got on the big field agen, I stood up on my feet, an' I sid that was my ship! She had n' e'er a sail, an' she had n' e'er a spar, an' she had n' e'er a compass, an' she had n' e'er a helm, an' she had n' no hold, an' she had n' no cabin. I could n' sail her, nor I could n' steer her, nor I could n' anchor her, nor bring her to, but she would go, wind or calm, an' she'd never come to port, but out in th' ocean she'd go to pieces! ...
— Little Classics, Volume 8 (of 18) - Mystery • Various
... the vantage ground of some degree of intellectual culture, and the idea must remain vague and indefinite till after long ages of real experience and intellectual unfolding. It was not till after Alexander's conquests in the East, the extension of the Roman Empire, the invention of the mariner's compass, the discovery of America, and the circumnavigation of the globe, together with the perfection of optical instruments by the use of which the true character of the celestial bodies was demonstrated, that the cosmical idea became truly a scientific ...
— The Continental Monthly, Vol. 3, No. 1 January 1863 - Devoted To Literature And National Policy • Various


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