dead reckoning

American  

noun

Navigation.

1. calculation of one's position on the basis of distance run on various headings since the last precisely observed position, with as accurate allowance as possible being made for wind, currents, compass errors, etc.

2. one's position as so calculated.

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dead reckoning British  

noun

1. a method of establishing one's position using the distance and direction travelled rather than astronomical observations

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Etymology

Origin of dead reckoning

First recorded in 1605–15

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

dead reckoning

Sailors practiced dead reckoning: Start from a known point, multiply speed by elapsed time, and then hope for the best.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026

Reading a family novel offers a tried-and-true method of dead reckoning with the family we didn’t choose — a means of measuring our own trajectory beside the quandaries of others navigating family dramas.

From New York Times ● Jul. 13, 2021

“We learned about dead reckoning, where they sailed by their knowledge of the stars and the currents,” explains Musker.

From Time ● Sep. 1, 2016

They were flying on two engines, fighting a headwind, still icing up, with no wireless and only dead reckoning to get them home.

From Washington Post ● May 5, 2015

She can navigate by the stars, and by dead reckoning, but I think she learned to use her sense of direction properly because her granddad gave her a motorbike for her sixteenth birthday.

From "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein

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