Binnacle

//ˈbɪnəkəl// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The wooden housing for a ship's compass, with its corrector magnets and illuminating arrangements.

    "The lamp, or candle, which lights the binnacle, is placed in the cabin, of course the expence of one light is saved, and all the inconveniences of blowing out in a squally night, and likewise the trouble of trimming the lamp, are avoided."

  2. 2
    a nonmagnetic housing for a ship's compass (usually in front of the helm) wordnet
  3. 3
    The instrument cluster on a car or motorcycle.

Synonyms

All synonyms
equipment

Example

More examples

"The lamp, or candle, which lights the binnacle, is placed in the cabin, of course the expence of one light is saved, and all the inconveniences of blowing out in a squally night, and likewise the trouble of trimming the lamp, are avoided."

Etymology

Corruption of earlier bittacle, from French habitacle. Or from obsolete Spanish or Portuguese bitácula, both from Late Latin habitāculum (“little dwelling place”). Compare modern Spanish bitácora.

Related phrases

binnacle listcorrector magnet

More for "binnacle"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.