compass course

American

noun

Nautical.

a course whose bearing is relative to the meridian as given by the navigator's compass, no compensation being made for variation or deviation.

Etymology

Origin of compass course

First recorded in 1850–55

Example Sentences

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See Examples For:

compass course

Dirty fog shut down over all of the south-east by daylight, forcing the flyer to steer a compass course over a mist-blotted earth.

From Time Magazine Archive

The navigator set a compass course southeastward towards St. Thomas.

From Time Magazine Archive

Comte leveled out on a compass course for Bloemfontein and nosed out of the cloud.

From Time Magazine Archive

In any case, war between Germany and Russia called for a new compass course from Skipper Curran.

From Time Magazine Archive

Rick thought that one over as he climbed out of the valley and set a compass course south to Baguio.

From The Golden Skull by Goodwin, Harold L. (Harold Leland)

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023