COMPASS, n.

1. Stretch; reach; extent; the limit or boundary of a space, and the space included; applied to time, space, sound, &c. Our knowledge lies within a very narrow compass. The universe extends beyond the compass of our thoughts. So we say, the compass of a year, the compass of an empire, the compass of reason, the compass of the voice. And in that compass all the world contains. – Dryden.
2. A passing round; a circular course; a circuit. Time is come round; / And where I did begin, there shall I end: / My life has run its compass. Shak. They fetched a compass of seven days journey. – 2 Kings iii. 2 Sam. v. Acts xxviii.
3. Moderate bounds; limits of truth; moderation; due limits. In two hundred years, (I speak within compass,) no such commission had been executed. – Davies. This sense is the same as the first, and the peculiar force of the phrase lies in the word within.
4. The extent or limit of the voice, or of sound. [See No. 1.]
5. An instrument for directing or ascertaining the course of ships at sea, consisting of a circular box, containing a paper card marked with the thirty-two points of direction, fixed on a magnetic needle, that always points to the north, the variation excepted. The needle with the card turns on a pin in the center of the box. In the center of the needle is fixed a brass conical socket or cap, by which the card hanging on the pin turns freely round the center. The box is covered with glass, to prevent the motion of the card from being disturbed by the wind. – Encyc.
6. Compass or Compasses, [or a pair of compasses, so named from its legs, but pair is superfluous or improper, and the singular number, compass, is the preferable name,] an instrument for describing circles, measuring figures, &c., consisting of two pointed legs or branches, made of iron, steel or brass, joined at the top by a rivet, on which they move. There are also compasses of three legs or triangular compasses, cylindrical and spherical compasses, with four branches, and various other kinds. – Encyc.
7. An instrument used in surveying land, constructed in the main like the mariner's compass; but with this difference, that the needle is not fitted into the card, moving with it, but plays alone; the card being drawn on the bottom of the box, and a circle divided into 360 degrees on the limb. This instrument is used in surveying land, and in directing travellers in a desert or forest, miners, &c. – Encyc.

1. To stretch round; to extend so as to embrace the whole: hence, to inclose, encircle, grasp or seize; as, to compass with the arms.
2. To surround; to environ; to inclose on all sides; sometimes followed by around, round or about. Now all the blessings / Of a glad father compass thee about. – Shak. With favor wilt thou compass him as with a shield. – Ps. v. The willows of the brook compass him about. – Job xi.
3. To go or walk round. Ye shall compass the city … and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times. – Josh. vi. For ye compass sea and land. – Matth. xxiii.
4. To besiege; to beleaguer; to block up. This is not a different sense, but a particular application. Thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side. – Luke xix.
5. To obtain; to attain to; to procure; to bring within one's power; to accomplish. If I can check my erring love, I will; / If not, to compass her I'll use my skill. – Shak. How can you hope to compass your designs? – Denham.
6. To purpose; to intend; to imagine; to plot; to contrive; as, we say, to go about to perform, but in mind only; as, to compass the death of the king. Compassing and imagining the death of the king are synonymous terms; compass signifying the purpose or design of the mind or will, and not, as in common speech, the carrying such design to effect. – Blackstone.

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. To go about or entirely round] to make the circuit of.
   
   

   Ye shall compass the city seven times.
   Josh. vi. 4.

   We the globe can compass soon.
   Shak.

3. An inclosing limit; boundary; circumference; as, within the compass of an encircling wall.
4. To inclose on all sides; to surround; to encircle; to environ; to invest; to besiege; -- used with about, round, around, and round about.
   
   

   With terrors and with clamors compassed round.
   Milton.

   Now all the blessings
   Of a glad father compass thee about.
   Shak.

   Thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round.
   Luke xix. 43.

5. An inclosed space; an area; extent.
   
   

   Their wisdom . . . lies in a very narrow compass.
   Addison.

6. To reach round; to circumvent; to get within one's power; to obtain; to accomplish.
   
   

   If I can check my erring love, I will:
   If not, to compass her I'll use my skill.
   Shak.

   How can you hope to compass your designs?
   Denham.

7. Extent; reach; sweep; capacity; sphere; as, the compass of his eye; the compass of imagination.
   
   

   The compass of his argument.
   Wordsworth.

8. To curve; to bend into a circular form.
   
   
   [Obs. except in carpentry and shipbuilding.] Shak.
9. 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.

10. To purpose; to intend; to imagine; to plot.
    
    

    Compassing and imagining the death of the king are synonymous terms; compassing signifying the purpose or design of the mind or will, and not, as in common speech, the carrying such design to effect.
    Blackstone.

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. A pair of compasses.
    
    
    [R.] See Compasses.

    To fix one foot of their compass wherever they please.
    Swift.

14. 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.