surveyor's compass

American  

noun

1. an instrument used by surveyors for measuring azimuths.

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Example Sentences

The variations to be allowed for in the surveyor's compass are nothing like so large as those that must be allowed for in every book.

From The Correspondence of Thomas Carlyle and Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1834-1872, Vol II. by Carlyle, Thomas

Sometimes these lesser ones are supported on three roots, like the tripod of a surveyor’s compass, and this gives them a somewhat ludicrous appearance.

From The Forest Exiles The Perils of a Peruvian Family in the Wilds of the Amazon by Weir, Harrison

An instrument of considerable significance is another wooden surveyor's compass, in the collection of the Yale University Art Gallery.

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

A surveyor's compass and staff, a spinning wheel; old blue dishes covered with hair-like lines.

From Hester's Counterpart A Story of Boarding School Life by Jones, Adele W.

While incapacitated from mental or physical labor he obtained a surveyor's compass, and more for pastime than any thought of becoming a surveyor, he studied the elements of surveying.

From The Bay State Monthly, Volume 3, No. 1 by Various