compass card

American

noun

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a circular card with magnets attached to its underside, the face divided on its rim into points of the compass, degrees clockwise from north, or both, and floating or suspended from a pivot so as to rotate freely.

compass card British

noun

a compass in the form of a card that rotates so that "0°" or "North" points to magnetic north

"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

Etymology

Origin of compass card

First recorded in 1870–75

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

compass card

I actually prefer trying to hold a number on its screen rather than trying to keep a compass card in alignment.

From Time Magazine Archive

But they never look at the instrument board on a line run without seeing on the compass card a sharp reminder of a TWA deficiency: all its routes run east and west.

From Time Magazine Archive

When, and by whom, the compass card was added is a matter of conjecture.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 7 "Columbus" to "Condottiere" by Various

She came aft to where I was standing, and, having looked at the compass card, gazed round her.

From The Beautiful White Devil by Guy Newell Boothby

Theodolite, about 1780, brass; horizontal circle 5 in., vertical circle 5 in., telescope 7-1/2 in., compass 3 in.; spirit level set into compass card; spirit level attached to telescope; fixed vertical circle; unsigned.

From Early American Scientific Instruments and Their Makers by Silvio A. Bedini

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