pair of compasses
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of pair of compasses
First recorded in 1545–55
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.
To compare a pair of compasses to the souls of lovers, however, would be wordy trickery too far.
From Nature • Aug. 28, 2013
To trace the life circle which began and ended at Huatabampo would strain an epic pair of compasses.
From Time Magazine Archive
“I knows him!” and, after a few convulsive efforts, the red legs took the shape of a pair of compasses, and the intelligent pupil triumphantly shouted, “It’s a We, Dranpa, it’s a We!”
From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott
We set a pair of compasses to the radius from the axis of the cam and that of the large roller in Fig.
From Modern Machine-Shop Practice, Volumes I and II by Rose, Joshua
After finishing my amateur map-making, I roughly measured with a pair of compasses the distance we had travelled from the vicinity of the Copper Mines.
From Lodges in the Wilderness by Scully, W. C. (William Charles)
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.
