cross-staff

[ kraws-staf, -stahf, kros- ]

noun

, Astronomy.

, plural cross-staffs, cross-staves.

1. an instrument for measuring the angle of elevation of heavenly bodies, consisting of a calibrated staff with another shorter staff perpendicular to and sliding on it.

Word History and Origins

Origin of cross-staff¹

1400–50, for an earlier sense; late Middle English

Example Sentences

Iacobs staffean instrument formerly used for measuring the altitude of the sun; a cross-staff.

From Project Gutenberg

Above, it has the small arc of the Davis quadrant with the sliding rod of the cross-staff below.

From Project Gutenberg

But some kind of a dratted cross-current ketched me and I'm sailin' out to sea, I finds, without compass or cross-staff.

From Project Gutenberg

He rubbed his eyes, looked again, adjusting his observation by a cross-staff which had been placed so as to bear upon the point.

From Project Gutenberg

A man upon the frame-work controls this wheel, guided by a sight on the frame, and a cross-staff at the end of the field.

From Project Gutenberg