false horizon

noun

1. a line or plane that simulates the horizon, used in altitude-measuring devices or the like.

Word History and Origins

Origin of false horizon¹

First recorded in 1805–15

Example Sentences

Its upper limit is very distinct, as seen by the “false” horizon.

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They ranged southward to the point where vision failed against the false horizon of dull amber haze.

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On holidays, when the sun was up in the sky, the Captain delighted to accompany his pupils to some open space, where, with the aid of a false horizon, he could teach them practically how to take an observation or to “shoot the sun,” as he called it.

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The sky was losing its burnished copper hue and becoming blue again, and, on the false horizon supplied by the crest of the fog-bank, stood a brilliantly vivid panorama.

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One of the officers of Admiral Rodgers' expedition climbed to near the top of Herald Island, at a time of great refraction, when probably a false horizon existed, and hence did not see Plover Island, although Wrangell Land was in sight.

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