bow compass

English

Noun

bow compass (plural bow compasses)

1. An arcograph.
2. A small pair of compasses, one leg of which carries a pencil or pen for drawing circles. Its legs are often connected by a bow-shaped spring rather than a joint.
3. A pair of compasses with a bow or arched plate riveted to one of the legs and passing through the other.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “bow compass”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)