box the compass
IdiomsExample Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
No one, certainly not a professional historian, would dare to box the compass of Churchill's subject matter.
From Time Magazine Archive
Whenever you think you have the answer to a German problem, you have to box the compass to see how it checks with all the major forces.
From Time Magazine Archive
Notwithstanding all this, as far as stable duties are concerned, I can reef, steer, and box the compass, so to speak.
From The Cruise of the Land-Yacht "Wanderer" Thirteen Hundred Miles in my Caravan by Stables, Gordon
She had two masts, and oars in case of calms; her crew was of six hands, including one Fernando, a Congoese, who could actually box the compass.
From Two Trips to Gorilla Land and the Cataracts of the Congo Volume 1 by Burton, Richard Francis, Sir
Our course on this river, Jean Lafitte, will box the compass, indeed box an entire box of compasses, for no river is more winding.
From The Lady and the Pirate Being the Plain Tale of a Diligent Pirate and a Fair Captive by Mathes, Harry A.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
