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compass course

American  

noun

Nautical.

  1. 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

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

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

From Time Magazine Archive

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

Finisterre took a starboard tack off Newport with a 163� compass course.

From Time Magazine Archive

In other words, standing in the center of the compass and looking toward the circumference, you would find that every true course you sailed would be three points to the left of the compass course.

From Lectures in Navigation by Draper, Ernest Gallaudet

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.