beam compass

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noun Drafting.

a compass having adjustable legs, set perpendicular to the paper and sliding along a horizontal bar so as to permit the drawing of large circles.

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Origin of beam compass

First recorded in 1775–85

Words nearby beam compass

be along, beam, beam aerial, beam antenna, beam brick, beam compass, beam-ends, beam engine, beamer, beam fill, beam hole

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use beam compass in a sentence

Back then, no one ever imagined needing to beam live video to ground troops from a fighter jet.
Newest U.S. Stealth Fighter ‘10 Years Behind’ Older Jets|Dave Majumdar|December 26, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Muscovites call their favorite station “Ukho Moskvy” (Ear of Moscow) and see it as an institution, a compass for society.
The Kremlin Is Killing Echo of Moscow, Russia’s Last Independent Radio Station|Anna Nemtsova|November 7, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Conservative columnist George Will calls him a “cherubic 40-year-old…a human beam of sunshine.”
With Ernst and Gardner, Republicans Think They’ve Found the Formula|Eleanor Clift|November 4, 2014|DAILY BEAST
He repeated it again, slowly: “He has no values…He has no moral compass whatsoever.”
Will Chris Christie Bow to Iowa’s Pork Kings?|Olivia Nuzzi|November 1, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Her door stands ajar, halving the room with a beam of light.
After the Genocide, Rwanda’s Widows Aging Alone|Nina Strochlic|August 31, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The latter went immediately to look for his wife, and found her hidden in an attic, hanging to a beam.
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume XX, 1621-1624|Various
Cast the beam from thine eye before noticing the mote in that of thy neighbour.
Solomon and Solomonic Literature|Moncure Daniel Conway
She habitually ate chocolates for their sustaining quality; they contained much nutriment in small compass, she said.
The Awakening and Selected Short Stories|Kate Chopin
The manual compass on these organs seldom extended higher than f2 or g3, though it often went down to GG.
The Recent Revolution in Organ Building|George Laing Miller
It was placed immediately over the shaft and pump-rods, requiring no engine-beam.
Life of Richard Trevithick, Volume II (of 2)|Francis Trevithick

British Dictionary definitions for beam compass

beam compass

noun

an instrument for drawing large circles or arcs, consisting of a horizontal beam along which two vertical legs slideAlso called: trammel

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012