compass
English
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English compas (“a circle, circuit, limit, form, a mathematical instrument”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old French compas, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Lua error in Module:parameters at line 95: Parameter 1 should be a valid language code; the value "ML." is not valid. See WT:LOL. compassus (“a circle, a circuit”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin com- (“together”) + passus (“a pace, step, later a pass, way, route”); see pass, pace.
Noun
compass (plural compasses)
- A magnetic or electronic device used to determine the cardinal directions (usually magnetic or true north).
- 1890, Wilhelm Westhofen, The Forth Bridge
- a glance at his compass would have shown him that a northerly course instead of an easterly could not be right
- 1689/1690, John Locke, On improvement of understanding
- He that […] first discovered the use of the compass […] did more for the propagation of knowledge […] than those who built workhouses.
- 1890, Wilhelm Westhofen, The Forth Bridge
- A pair of compasses (a device used to draw an arc or circle).
- 1701, Jonathan Swift, A Discourse of the Contests and Dissensions between the Nobles and the Commons in Athens and Rome, Chapter 5
- to fix one foot of their compass wherever they please
- 1701, Jonathan Swift, A Discourse of the Contests and Dissensions between the Nobles and the Commons in Athens and Rome, Chapter 5
- (music) The range of notes of a musical instrument or voice.
- c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:
- You would sound me from my lowest note to the top of my compass.
- (obsolete) A space within limits; an area.
- 1763, M. Le Page Du Pratz, History of Louisiana (PG), page 47:
- 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.
- 1711, Joseph Addison, The Spectator
- Animals, in their generation, are wiser than the sons of men but their wisdom is confined to a few particulars, and lies in a very narrow compass.
- 1913, D.H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, chapter 14
- Clara thought she had never seen him look so small and mean. He was as if trying to get himself into the smallest possible compass.
- 1763, M. Le Page Du Pratz, History of Louisiana (PG), page 47:
- (obsolete) An enclosing limit; a boundary, a circumference.
- within the compass of an encircling wall
- 1624, John Smith, “The Present Estate of New-Plimoth”, in John Smith, The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles: […], London: […] I[ohn] D[awson] and I[ohn] H[aviland] for Michael Sparkes, →OCLC, book 6; republished as The Generall Historie of Virginia, [...], London: […] I[ohn] D[awson] and I[ohn] H[aviland] for Edward Blackmore, 1632, →OCLC, page 247:
- [T]he Towne is impailed about halfe a mile compaſſe.
- Moderate bounds, limits of truth; moderation; due limits; used with within.
- c. 1610, John Davies, Historical Tracts
- In two hundred years before (I speak within compass), no such commission had been executed.
- c. 1610, John Davies, Historical Tracts
- (archaic) scope.
- 1814, William Wordsworth, The Excursion Book 8
- the compass of his argument
- 1748, David Hume, Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral, Oxford University Press (1973), section 8:
- There is a truth and falsehood in all propositions on this subject, and a truth and falsehood, which lie not beyond the compass of human understanding.
- 1844, Edgar Allan Poe, Marginalia
- How very commonly we hear it remarked that such and such thoughts are beyond the compass of words! I do not believe that any thought, properly so called, is out of the reach of language.
- 1814, William Wordsworth, The Excursion Book 8
- (obsolete) A passing round; circuit; circuitous course.
- 1611, King James Version, 2 Kings iii. 9
- They fetched a compass of seven days' journey.
- 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]:
- This day I breathed first; time is come round, / And where I did begin, there shall I end; / My life is run his compass.
- 1611, King James Version, 2 Kings iii. 9
Synonyms
- (magnetic direction finder): magnetic compass
- (device used to draw circular curves): pair of compasses
Hyponyms
- (pair of compasses): beam compass
Derived terms
Translations
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Etymology 2
From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English compassen (“to go around, make a circuit, draw a circle, contrive, intend”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old French compasser; from the noun; see compass as a noun.
Verb
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- To surround; to encircle; to environ; to stretch round.
- 1610, The Tempest, by William Shakespeare, act 5 scene 1
- Now all the blessings
- Of a glad father compass thee about!
- Template:RQ:Authorized Version
- And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.
- 1899, Martha Frye Boggs, Jack Crews, page 237:
- Jack was called plucky, and he was, but it took all the strength of will that the slim, resolute engineer possessed, to hold him to his purpose, when he faced about and surveyed the unimpassive faces which compassed him.
- 1610, The Tempest, by William Shakespeare, act 5 scene 1
- To go about or round entirely; to traverse.
- (dated) To accomplish; to reach; to achieve; to obtain.
- 1763, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Emilius; or, an essay on education, translated by M. Nugent, page 117:
- [...] they never find ways sufficient to compass that end.
- 1816, Catholicon: or, the Christian Philosopher, volume 3, from July to December 1816, page 56:
- [...] to settle the end of our action or disputation; and then to take fit and effectual means to compass that end.
- 1857, Gilbert Burnet, Bishop Burnet's History of His Own Time: from the Restoration of King Charles the Second to the Treaty of Peace at Utrecht in the Reign of Queen Anne, page 657:
- [...] and was an artful flatterer, when that was necessary to compass his end, in which generally he was successful.
- 1921 November 23, The New Republic, volume 28, number 364, page 2:
- The immediate problem is how to compass that end: by the seizure of territory or by the cultivation of the goodwill of the people whose business she seeks.
- 1763, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Emilius; or, an essay on education, translated by M. Nugent, page 117:
- (dated) To plot; to scheme (against someone).
- 1600, The Arraignment and Judgement of Captain Thomas Lee, published in 1809, by R. Bagshaw, in Cobbett's Complete Collection of State Trials, volume 1, page 1403–04:
- That he plotted and compassed to raise Sedition and Rebellion [...]
- 1794 November 1, Speech of Mr. Erskine in Behalf of Hardy, published in 1884, by Chauncey Allen Goodrich, in Select British Eloquence, page 719:
- But it went beyond it by the loose construction of compassing to depose the King, [...]
- 1915, The Wireless Age, volume 2, page 580:
- The Bavarian felt a mad wave of desire for her sweep over him. What scheme wouldn't he compass to mould that girl to his wishes.
- 1600, The Arraignment and Judgement of Captain Thomas Lee, published in 1809, by R. Bagshaw, in Cobbett's Complete Collection of State Trials, volume 1, page 1403–04:
Synonyms
- (surround): encircle, environ, surround
- (go about or around entirely): cover, traverse
- (accomplish): accomplish, achieve, attain, gain, get to, reach
- (plot (against someone)): conspire, plot, scheme
Translations
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Adverb
compass (comparative more compass, superlative most compass)
- (obsolete) In a circuit; round about.
- 1658, Thomas Browne, Urne-Burial,[1] Penguin (2005), →ISBN, page 9:
- Near the same plot of ground, for about six yards compasse were digged up coals and incinerated substances, […]
- 1658, Thomas Browne, Urne-Burial,[1] Penguin (2005), →ISBN, page 9:
References
- “compass”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “compass”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
Middle English
Noun
compass
- Alternative form of compas
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