transversary

English

three transversaries on a cross-staff or Jacob's staff

Noun

transversary (plural transversaries)

1. (now historical) A cross-beam or cross-bar, for example on a navigational cross-staff. (Compare transom.)
   • 1888, William John Gordon, The Captain-general: Being the Story of the Attempt of the Dutch to Colonize New Holland:

     There was a “pole” duly graduated, and on it, so as to slip up and down, were certain cross-pieces known as “transversaries.”

   • 1992, Leonard George Carr Laughton, Roger Charles Anderson, William Gordon Perrin, The Mariner's Mirror:

     In Coignet's cross-staff not one but three transversaries are used. With these transversaries angles between respectively 90° and 30°, 30° and 10° and less than 10° are measured.

Adjective

transversary (not comparable)

1. Transverse.
   • For quotations using this term, see Citations:transversary.