DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan

 Com·pass n.
 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.   --Shak.
 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.   --Shak.
 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.
 8. A pair of compasses. [R.] See Compasses.
    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.
 Its leaves are turned to the north as true as the magnet:
 This is the compass flower.   --Longefellow.
 -- 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.

 Fetch v. t. [imp. & p. p. Fetched 2; p. pr. & vb. n.. Fetching.]
 1. To bear toward the person speaking, or the person or thing from whose point of view the action is contemplated; to go and bring; to get.
    Time will run back and fetch the age of gold.   --Milton.
    He called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink. And as she was going to fetch it he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand.   --1 Kings xvii. 11, 12.
 2. To obtain as price or equivalent; to sell for.
    Our native horses were held in small esteem, and fetched low prices.   --Macaulay.
 3. To recall from a swoon; to revive; -- sometimes with to; as, to fetch a man to.
    Fetching men again when they swoon.   --Bacon.
 4. To reduce; to throw.
    The sudden trip in wrestling that fetches a man to the ground.   --South.
 5. To bring to accomplishment; to achieve; to make; to perform, with certain objects; as, to fetch a compass; to fetch a leap; to fetch a sigh.
    I'll fetch a turn about the garden.   --Shak.
    He fetches his blow quick and sure.   --South.
 6. To bring or get within reach by going; to reach; to arrive at; to attain; to reach by sailing.
 Meantine flew our ships, and straight we fetched
 The siren's isle.   --Chapman.
 7. To cause to come; to bring to a particular state.
    They could n't fetch the butter in the churn.   --W. Barnes.
 To fetch a compass Naut., to make a circuit; to take a circuitous route going to a place.
 To fetch a pump, to make it draw water by pouring water into the top and working the handle.
 To fetch headway or To fetch sternway Naut., to move ahead or astern.
 To fetch out, to develop. “The skill of the polisher fetches out the colors [of marble]” --Addison.
 To fetch up. (a) To overtake. [Obs.] “Says [the hare], I can fetch up the tortoise when I please.” --L'Estrange. (b) To stop suddenly.
 ◄ ►