compass
pronunciation
How to pronounce compass in British English:
UK [ˈkʌmpəs]
How to pronounce compass in American English:
US [ˈkʌmpəs]
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- Noun:
- navigational instrument for finding directions
- an area in which something acts or operates or has power or control: "the range of a supersonic jet"
- the limit of capability
- drafting instrument used for drawing circles
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- Verb:
- bring about; accomplish
- travel around, either by plane or ship
- get the meaning of something
Word Origin
- compass
- compass: [13] The notion underlying compass is of ‘measuring out with paces’. It originated as a verb, Vulgar Latin *compassāre ‘pace out’, a compound formed from the Latin intensive prefix com- and passus (source of English pace). This passed into Old French as compasser ‘measure’, and thence into English. The derived Old French noun compas was early applied to a pivoted two-armed measuring and drawing instrument, presumably inspired equally by the ideas ‘stepping’ and ‘measuring’, and English acquired this sense in the 14th century.The use of the word for a magnetic direction indicator, which dates from the 16th century, may be due to the device’s circular container.=> pace
- compass (n.)
- c. 1300, "space, area, extent, circumference," from Old French compas "circle, radius, pair of compasses" (12c.), from compasser "to go around, measure, divide equally," from Vulgar Latin *compassare "to pace out" (source of Italian compassare, Spanish compasar), from Latin com- "together" (see com-) + passus "a step" (see pace (n.)). The mathematical instrument so called from mid-14c. The mariners' directional tool (so called since early 15c.) took the name, perhaps, because it's round and has a point like the mathematical instrument. The word is in most European languages, with a mathematical sense in Romance, a nautical sense in Germanic, and both in English.
- compass (v.)
- c. 1300, "to devise, plan;" early 14c. as "to surround, contain, envelop, enclose;" from Anglo-French cumpasser, from compass (n.). Related: Compassed; compassing.
Example
- 1. On that month-long trip he carried no compass , sextant or charts .
- 2. Unfortunately , using a compass is not so easy .
- 3. In the case of this book , the tools we will be using are a compass and a ruler .
- 4. But rebuilding investor faith in a compass via rules or anything else will be very hard .
- 5. But though cryptochrome is likely part of the compass , the other part is still unknown .