Refine this word faster
Compass
Definitions
- 1 In a circuit; round about. obsolete
"[T]he Towne is impailed about halfe a mile compaſſe."
- 1 A magnetic or electronic device used to determine the cardinal directions (usually magnetic or true north).
"[H]ow many Seas to our fore-fathers impaſſable, for want of the Compaſſe?"
- 2 navigational instrument for finding directions wordnet
- 3 A pair of compasses (a device used to draw circular arcs and transfer length measurements).
"to fix one foot of their compass wherever they please"
- 4 drafting instrument used for drawing circles wordnet
- 5 The range of notes of a musical instrument or voice.
"You would sound me from my lowest note to the top of my compass."
Show 9 more definitions
- 6 an area in which something acts or operates or has power or control: wordnet
- 7 A space within limits; an area. obsolete
"In going up the Missisippi ^([sic]), we meet with nothing remarkable before we come to the Detour aux Anglois, the English Reach: in that part the river takes a large compass."
- 8 the limit of capability wordnet
- 9 An enclosing limit; a boundary, a circumference. obsolete
"within the compass of an encircling wall"
- 10 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."
- 11 Synonym of scope. formal
"the compass of his argument"
- 12 Range, reach. obsolete
"Lou's not Times foole, though roſie lips and cheeks VVithin his bending ſickles compaſſe come, Loue alters not with his breefe houres and vveekes, But beares it out euen to the edge of doome: If this be error and vpon me proued, I neuer vvrit, nor no man euer loued."
- 13 A passing round; circuit; circuitous course. obsolete
"This day I breathed first; time is come round, / And where I did begin, there shall I end; / My life is run his compass."
- 14 A curved circular form.
- 1 To surround; to encircle; to environ; to stretch round.
"Now all the blessings Of a glad father compass thee about!"
- 2 get the meaning of something wordnet
- 3 To go about or round entirely; to traverse.
- 4 travel around, either by plane or ship wordnet
- 5 To accomplish; to reach; to achieve; to obtain. dated
"[…] tho' theſe ſeem'd to be very unfit Inſtruments for compaſſing of that great Deſign for which they were then employ'd, becauſe of their Inability and Uncapacity in performing the Work ſo very great and important; […]"
Show 2 more definitions
- 6 bring about; accomplish wordnet
- 7 To plot; to scheme (against someone). dated
"That he plotted and compassed to raise Sedition and Rebellion [...]"
Etymology
From Middle English compas (“a circle, circuit, limit, form, a mathematical instrument”), from Old French compas, from Medieval Latin compassus (“a circle, a circuit”), from Latin com- (“together”) + passus (“a pace, step, later a pass, way, route”); see pass, pace.
From Middle English compassen (“to go around, make a circuit, draw a circle, contrive, intend”), from Old French compasser; from the noun; see compass as a noun.
From Middle English compassen (“to go around, make a circuit, draw a circle, contrive, intend”), from Old French compasser; from the noun; see compass as a noun.
See also for "compass"
Next best steps
Mini challenge
Unscramble this word: compass