compass card

American  

noun

Navigation.

1. 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

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

---

Etymology

Origin of compass card

First recorded in 1870–75

Example Sentences

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

The compass card consists of a paper ring, on which the "points" and degrees are engraved in the ordinary way, and is kept circular by a light ring of aluminium.

From Lord Kelvin An account of his scientific life and work by Gray, Andrew

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

Figure 36.—Unsigned wooden surveying compass, with an interesting example of a mariner's compass card.

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