compass

compass

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.
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 Burnets 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 Cobbetts 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 wouldnt he compass to mould that girl to his wishes.

compass (plural compasses)

1. A magnetic or electronic device used to determine the cardinal directions (usually magnetic or true north).
2. A pair of compasses (a device used to draw an arc or circle).
3. The range of notes of a musical instrument or voice.
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.

5. Scope.
   • 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.

compass (comparative more compass, superlative most compass)

1. (obsolete) In a circuit; round about.
   • 1658, Thomas Browne, Urne-Burial,^[1] Penguin (2005), ISBN 9780141023915, page 9:

     Near the same plot of ground, for about six yards compasse were digged up coals and incinerated substances, […]

	bussola
	navigational compass
	Strumento di orientamento che indica la posizione dei punti cardinali.
	Navigational instrument that indicates the cardinal directions on the Earth.

	compasso
	A technical drawing instrument that can be used for inscribing circles or arcs.

ambito

bùssola

cerchio

circolo

di bussola

estensione

gamma

perimetro

portata

Altri significati:

(obsolete) In a circuit; round about.

(dated) To accomplish; to reach; to achieve; to obtain.

A magnetic or electronic device used to determine the cardinal directions (usually magnetic north).

scope

(dated) To plot; to scheme (against someone).

A magnetic or electronic device used to determine the cardinal directions (usually magnetic or true north).

range of notes of a musical instrument or voice

surround

go about or round entirely

The limit of capability.

To surround; to encircle; to environ; to stretch round.

area

compass (for drawing circles)

(obsolete) A space within limits; area.

accomplish

A pair of compasses (a device used with a pencil to draw an arc or circle on paper).

Scope.

To go about or round entirely; to traverse.

plot

Get the meaning of something.

The range of notes of a musical instrument or voice.

Traduzione 'veloce'

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