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Webster 1913 Edition

Compass

Com′pass

(kŭm′pas)
,
Noun.
[F.
compas
, fr. LL.
compassus
circle, prop., a stepping together;
com-
+
passus
pace, step. See
Pace
,
Pass
.]
1.
A passing round; circuit; circuitous course.
They fetched a
compass
of seven day’s journey.
2 Kings iii. 9.
This day I breathed first; time is come round,
And where I did begin, there shall I end;
My life is run his
compass
.
Shakespeare
2.
An inclosing limit; boundary; circumference;
as, within the
compass
of an encircling wall
.
3.
An inclosed space; an area; extent.
Their wisdom . . . lies in a very narrow
compass
.
Addison.
4.
Extent; reach; sweep; capacity; sphere;
as, the
compass
of his eye; the
compass
of imagination
.
The
compass
of his argument.
Wordsworth.
5.
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.
Sir J. Davies.
6.
(Mus.)
The range of notes, or tones, within the capacity of a voice or instrument.
You would sound me from my lowest note to the top of my
compass
.
Shakespeare
7.
An instrument for determining directions upon the earth's surface by means of a magnetized bar or needle turning freely upon a pivot and pointing in a northerly and southerly direction.
He that first discovered the use of the
compass
did more for the supplying and increase of useful commodities than those who built workhouses.
Locke.
To fix one foot of their
compass
wherever they please.
Swift.
9.
A circle; a continent.
[Obs.]
The tryne
compas
[the threefold world containing earth, sea, and heaven.
Skeat.
]
Chaucer.
Azimuth compass
.
See under
Azimuth
.
–
Beam compass
.
See under
Beam
.
–
Compass card
,
the circular card attached to the needles of a mariner's compass, on which are marked the thirty-two points or rhumbs.
–
Compass dial
,
a small pocket compass fitted with a sundial to tell the hour of the day.
–
Compass plane
(Carp.)
,
a plane, convex in the direction of its length on the under side, for smoothing the concave faces of curved woodwork.
–
Compass plant
,
Compass flower
(Bot.)
,
a plant of the American prairies (
Silphium laciniatum
), not unlike a small sunflower; rosinweed. Its lower and root leaves are vertical, and on the prairies are disposed to present their edges north and south.
–
Compass saw
,
a saw with a narrow blade, which will cut in a curve; – called also
fret saw
and
keyhole saw
.
–
Compass timber
(Shipbuilding)
,
curved or crooked timber.
–
Compass window
(Arch.)
,
a circular bay window or oriel window.
–
Mariner's compass
,
a kind of compass used in navigation. It has two or more magnetic needles permanently attached to a card, which moves freely upon a pivot, and is read with reference to a mark on the box representing the ship's head. The card is divided into thirty-two points, called also rhumbs, and the glass-covered box or bowl containing it is suspended in gimbals within the binnacle, in order to preserve its horizontal position.
–
Surveyor's compass
,
an instrument used in surveying for measuring horizontal angles. See
Circumferentor
.
–
Variation compass
,
a compass of delicate construction, used in observations on the variations of the needle.
–
To fetch a compass
,
to make a circuit.

Com′pass

(kŭm′pas)
,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Compassed
(kŭm′past)
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Compassing
.]
[F.
compasser
, LL.
compassare
.]
1.
To go about or entirely round; to make the circuit of.
Ye shall
compass
the city seven times.
Josh. vi. 4.
We the globe can
compass
soon.
Shakespeare
2.
To inclose on all sides; to surround; to encircle; to environ; to invest; to besiege; – used with
about
,
round
,
around
, and
round about
.
With terrors and with clamors
compassed
round.
Milton.
Now all the blessings
Of a glad father
compass
thee about.
Shakespeare
Thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and
compass
thee round.
Luke xix. 43.
3.
To reach round; to circumvent; to get within one's power; to obtain; to accomplish.
If I can check my erring love, I will:
If not, to
compass
her I'll use my skill.
Shakespeare
How can you hope to
compass
your designs?
Denham.
4.
To curve; to bend into a circular form.
[Obs. except in carpentry and shipbuilding.]
Shak.
5.
(Law)
To purpose; to intend; to imagine; to plot.
Compassing
and
imagining
the death of the king are synonymous terms;
compassing
signifying the purpose or design of the mind or will, and not, as in common speech, the carrying such design to effect.
Blackstone.

Webster 1828 Edition

Compass

COMPASS

, n.
1.
Stretch; reach; extent; the limit or boundary of a space, and the space included; applied to time, space, sound, &c. Our knowledge lies within a very narrow compass. The universe extends beyond the compass of our thoughts. So we say, the compass of a year, the compass of an empire, the compass of reason, the compass of the voice.
And in that compass all the world contains.
2.
A passing round; a circular course; a circuit.
Time is come round;
and where I did begin, thee shall I end:
My life has run its compass.
They fetched a compass of seven days journey. 2 Kings 3. 2 Sam. 5. Acts 28.
3.
Moderate bounds; limits of truth; moderation; due limits.
In two hundred years, (I speak within compass,) no such commission had been executed.
This sense is the same as the first, and the peculiar force of the phrase lies in the word within.
4.
The extent or limit of the voice or of sound.
5.
An instrument for directing or ascertaining the course of ships at sea, consisting of a circular box, containing a paper card marked with the thirty two points of direction, fixed on a magnetic needle, that always points to the north, the variation excepted. The needle with the card turns on a pin in the center of the box. In the center of the needle is fixed a brass conical socket or cap, by which the card hanging on the pin turns freely round the center. The box is covered with glass, to prevent the motion of the card from being disturbed by the wind.
6.
Compass or compasses, [or a pair of compasses, so named from its legs, but pair is superfluous or improper, and the singular number compass is the preferable name,] an instrument for describing circles, measuring figures, &c., consisting of two pointed legs or branches, made of iron, steel or brass, joined at the top by a rivet, on which they move. There are also compasses of three legs or triangular compasses, cylindrical and spherical compasses with four branches, and various other kinds.
7.
An instrument used in surveying land, constructed in the main like the mariners compass; but with this difference, that the needle is not fitted into the card, moving with it, but plays alone; the card being drawn on the bottom of the box, and a circle divided into 360 degrees on the limb. This instrument is used in surveying land, and in directing travelers in a desert or forest, miners, &c.
Compass-saw, a saw with a brad edge and thin back, to cut in a circular form.

COMPASS

, v.t.
1.
To stretch round; to extend so as to embrace the whole; hence, to inclose, encircle, grasp or seize; as, to compass with the arms.
2.
To surround; to environ; to inclose on all sides; sometimes followed by around, round or about.
Now all the blessings of a glad father compass thee about.
With favor wilt thou compass him as with a shield. Ps. 5.
The willows of the brook compass him about. Job 40.
3.
To go or walk round.
Ye shall compass the city--and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times. Josh. 6.
For ye compass sea and land. Math. 23.
4.
To besiege; to beleaguer; to block up. This is not a different sense, but a particular application.
Thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side. Luke 19.
5.
To obtain; to attain to; to procure; to bring within ones power; to accomplish.
If I can check my erring love, I will;
If not, to compass her Ill use my skill.
How can you hope to compass your designs?
6.
To purpose; to intend; to imagine; to plot; to contrive; as we say, to go about to perform, but in mind only; as, to compass the death of the king.
Compassing and imaging the death of the king are synonymous terms; compass signifying the purpose or design of the mind or will, and not, as in common speech, the carrying such design to effect.

Definition 2024

compass

compass

English

Compasses for drawing and cutting

Noun

compass ‎(plural compasses)

  1. A magnetic or electronic device used to determine the cardinal directions (usually magnetic or true north).
    • John Locke
      He that first discovered the use of the compass did more for the supplying and increase of useful commodities than those who built workhouses.
  2. A pair of compasses (a device used to draw an arc or circle).
    • Jonathan Swift
      to fix one foot of their compass wherever they please
  3. (music) The range of notes of a musical instrument or voice.
    • Shakespeare
      You would sound me from my lowest note to the top of my compass.
  4. (obsolete) A space within limits; area.
    • 1763, M. Le Page Du Pratz, History of Louisiana (PG), page 47:
      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.
    • Addison
      Their wisdom […] lies in a very narrow compass.
    • 1913, D.H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, chapter 14
      Clara thought she had never seen him look so small and mean. He was as if trying to get himself into the smallest possible compass.
  5. (obsolete) An enclosing limit; boundary; circumference.
    within the compass of an encircling wall
  6. Moderate bounds, limits of truth; moderation; due limits; used with within.
    • Sir J. Davies
      In two hundred years before (I speak within compass), no such commission had been executed.
  7. Scope.
    • Wordsworth
      the compass of his argument
    • 1748, David Hume, Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral, Oxford University Press (1973), section 8:
      There is a truth and falsehood in all propositions on this subject, and a truth and falsehood, which lie not beyond the compass of human understanding.
    • 1844, Edgar Allan Poe, Marginalia
      How very commonly we hear it remarked that such and such thoughts are beyond the compass of words! I do not believe that any thought, properly so called, is out of the reach of language.
  8. (obsolete) A passing round; circuit; circuitous course.
    • Bible, 2 Kings iii. 9
      They fetched a compass of seven days' journey.
    • Shakespeare
      This day I breathed first; time is come round, / And where I did begin, there shall I end; / My life is run his compass.

Synonyms

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

compass ‎(third-person singular simple present compasses, present participle compassing, simple past and past participle compassed)

  1. To surround; to encircle; to environ; to stretch round.
    • 1610, The Tempest, by William Shakespeare, act 5 scene 1
      Now all the blessings
      Of a glad father compass thee about!
    • 1899, Martha Frye Boggs, Jack Crews (page 237)
      Jack was called plucky, and he was, but it took all the strength of will that the slim, resolute engineer possessed, to hold him to his purpose, when he faced about and surveyed the unimpassive faces which compassed him.
  2. To go about or round entirely; to traverse.
  3. (dated) To accomplish; to reach; to achieve; to obtain.
    • 1763, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Emilius; or, an essay on education, translated by M. Nugent, page 117:
      [...] they never find ways sufficient to compass that end.
    • 1816, Catholicon: or, the Christian Philosopher, volume 3, from July to December 1816, page 56:
      [...] to settle the end of our action or disputation; and then to take fit and effectual means to compass that end.
    • 1857, Gilbert Burnet, Bishop Burnet's History of His Own Time: from the Restoration of King Charles the Second to the Treaty of Peace at Utrecht in the Reign of Queen Anne, page 657:
      [...] and was an artful flatterer, when that was necessary to compass his end, in which generally he was successful.
    • 1921 November 23, The New Republic, volume 28, number 364, page 2:
      The immediate problem is how to compass that end: by the seizure of territory or by the cultivation of the goodwill of the people whose business she seeks.
  4. (dated) To plot; to scheme (against someone).
    • 1600, The Arraignment and Judgement of Captain Thomas Lee, published in 1809, by R. Bagshaw, in Cobbett's Complete Collection of State Trials, volume 1, page 1403–04:
      That he plotted and compassed to raise Sedition and Rebellion [...]
    • 1794 November 1, Speech of Mr. Erskine in Behalf of Hardy, published in 1884, by Chauncey Allen Goodrich, in Select British Eloquence, page 719:
      But it went beyond it by the loose construction of compassing to depose the King, [...]
    • 1915, The Wireless Age, volume 2, page 580:
      The Bavarian felt a mad wave of desire for her sweep over him. What scheme wouldn't he compass to mould that girl to his wishes.

Quotations

  • 1611, Bible (KJV), Genesis 2:13:
    And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.

Synonyms

Translations

Adverb

compass ‎(comparative more compass, superlative most compass)

  1. (obsolete) In a circuit; round about.
    • 1658, Thomas Browne, Urne-Burial, Penguin (2005), ISBN 9780141023915, page 9:
      Near the same plot of ground, for about six yards compasse were digged up coals and incinerated substances, […]

References

  • compass in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
  • compass in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

Etymology

For noun: from Middle English compas ‎(“a circle, circuit, limit, form, a mathematical instrument”), from Old French compas, from Medieval Latin compassus ‎(“a circle, a circuit”), from Latin com- ‎(“together”) + passus ‎(“a pace, step, later a pass, way, route”); see pass, pace.

For verb: from Middle English compassen ‎(“to go around, make a circuit, draw a circle, contrive, intend”), from Old French compasser; from the noun; see compass as a noun.

Pronunciation

  • enPR: kŭmʹpəs, IPA(key): /ˈkʌm.pəs/
  • Rhymes: -ʌmpəs

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