compasses

Noun

compass (plural compasses)

1. A magnetic or electronic device used to determine the cardinal directions (usually magnetic or true north).
   • [H]ow many Seas to our fore-fathers impaſſable, for want of the Compaſſe?1625, [Samuel] Purchas, “Of the Improvement of Nauigation in Later Times, […]”, in Purchas His Pilgrimes. […], 1st part, London: […] William Stansby for Henrie Fetherstone, […], →OCLC, 2nd book, § I...

   Synonyms:

   magnetic compass

2. A pair of compasses (a device used to draw circular arcs and transfer length measurements).
   • to fix one foot of their compass wherever they please1701, Jonathan Swift, chapter 5, in A Discourse of the Contests and Dissensions between the Nobles and the Commons in Athens and Rome
3. The range of notes of a musical instrument or voice.
   • You would sound me from my lowest note to the top of my compass.c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
4. (obsolete) A space within limits; an area.
   • In going up the Missisippi ^([sic]), we meet with nothing remarkable before we come to the Detour aux Anglois, the English Reach: in that part the river takes a large compass.1763, M. Le Page Du Pratz, History of Louisiana, PG, page 47
5. (obsolete) An enclosing limit; a boundary, a circumference.
   • within the compass of an encircling wall
6. Moderate bounds, limits of truth; moderation; due limits; used with within.
   • In two hundred years before (I speak within compass), no such commission had been executed.c. 1610, John Davies, Historical Tracts

See all 15 meanings of compass