compass card

American  

noun

Navigation.

1. a circular card with magnets attached to its underside, the face divided on its rim into points of the compass, degrees clockwise from north, or both, and floating or suspended from a pivot so as to rotate freely.

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compass card British  

noun

1. a compass in the form of a card that rotates so that "0°" or "North" points to magnetic north

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Etymology

Origin of compass card

First recorded in 1870–75

Example Sentences

But they never look at the instrument board on a line run without seeing on the compass card a sharp reminder of a TWA deficiency: all its routes run east and west.

From Time Magazine Archive

I actually prefer trying to hold a number on its screen rather than trying to keep a compass card in alignment.

From Time Magazine Archive

This ground glass dial has painted upon it a compass card divided into points and sub-divisions and into 360�.

From Lectures in Navigation by Draper, Ernest Gallaudet

It seems quite likely that the compass card bears one of the very few surviving contemporary representations of the first Gurnet Light in Plymouth Bay.

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

Three wooden instruments with his compass card exist in private and public collections.

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