compass card

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.

compass card

noun

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of compass card¹

First recorded in 1870–75

Example Sentences

The compass card consists of a paper ring, on which the "points" and degrees are engraved in the ordinary way, and is kept circular by a light ring of aluminium.

From Project Gutenberg

The engraved compass card is quite similar to the one used by Thomas Greenough.

From Project Gutenberg

The float has mounted upon it a compass card much like that of the ordinary magnetic instrument, and the sailor reads it in precisely the same way.

From Project Gutenberg

She came aft to where I was standing, and, having looked at the compass card, gazed round her.

From Project Gutenberg

The bos'un did not think so, and casting an eye aloft at the canvas now beginning to fill, and then at the compass card, prepared to air his theory of the malady.

From Project Gutenberg