mariner's compass

American  

noun

1. a compass used for navigational purposes, consisting of a pivoted compass card in a gimbal-mounted, nonferrous metal bowl.

2. (initial capital letter) compass.

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Etymology

Origin of mariner's compass

First recorded in 1620–30

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mariner's compass

Among the great inventions of the past are alphabetical writing, Arabic notation, the mariner's compass, the telescope, the printing-press, and the steam-engine.

From Inventions in the Century by William Henry Doolittle

Magnetism was encircling the earth with its currents long before the invention of the mariner's compass which reveals them to us.

From Mysterious Psychic Forces An Account of the Author's Investigations in Psychical Research, Together with Those of Other European Savants by Camille Flammarion

A mariner's card, set into the opening with a metal vernier scale, is in the usual form of the mariner's compass card of the 18th century; it is executed as a line engraving.

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

In the top right corner, spanned by a compass, was a scale of leagues, while in the left was a representation of the mariner's compass.

From The Quest of the 'Golden Hope' A Seventeenth Century Story of Adventure by Percy F. (Percy Francis) Westerman

That was before the invention of the mariner's compass; but even after that invention, when astronomy was not scientifically applied to navigation, long voyages were considered in the highest degree dangerous.

From Knowledge is Power: A View of the Productive Forces of Modern Society and the Results of Labor, Capital and Skill. by Charles Knight