Compass

1. A passing round; circuit; circuitous course.
2. An inclosing limit; boundary; circumference; as, within the compass of an encircling wall.
3. An inclosed space; an area; extent.
4. Extent; reach; sweep; capacity; sphere; as, the compass of his eye; the compass of imagination.
5. Moderate bounds, limits of truth; moderation; due limits; -- used with within.
6. (Mus.) The range of notes, or tones, within the capacity of a voice or instrument.
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.
8. A pair of compasses.
9. A circle; a continent.
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.

1. To go about or entirely round; to make the circuit of.
2. To inclose on all sides; to surround; to encircle; to environ; to invest; to besiege; -- used with about, round, around, and round about.
3. To reach round; to circumvent; to get within one's power; to obtain; to accomplish.
4. To curve; to bend into a circular form.
5. (Law) To purpose; to intend; to imagine; to plot.