Word.ws English Dictionary

pelorus

/pɪˈlɔːɹəs/

pelorus noun: a device used to take a bearing on a distant object.

Noun

pelorus (plural peloruses)

  1. A device used to take a bearing on a distant object.
    • Light clusters, clear, deep, on the face of the radio gear…fans up softly off the dial of the pelorus…spills out portholes onto the white river.1973, Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow

Forms of pelorus

pluralpeloruses

Origin of pelorus

Reportedly the name of Hannibal's pilot.

Questions about pelorus

What does pelorus mean?
Pelorus means a device used to take a bearing on a distant object.
What part of speech is pelorus?
Pelorus is a noun.
How do you pronounce pelorus?
Pelorus is pronounced /pɪˈlɔːɹəs/.
What is the plural of pelorus?
The plural of pelorus is peloruses.

Words near pelorus in the dictionary

  1. pelorisation
  2. pelorised
  3. pelorism
  4. pelorization
  5. pelorized
  6. pelorus
  7. peloruses
  8. peloruside
  9. pelorusides
  10. pelory
  11. Pelosi

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: pelorus (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “pelorus.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pelorus. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.