Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The magnetized needle of a compass. See
compass , 7.
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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On returning to camp that evening, we tried them with the compass-needle, and it showed very marked attraction in the case of one or two of the specimens.
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The symbol was force, as a compass-needle or a triangle was force, as the mechanist might prove by losing it, and nothing could be gained by ignoring their value.
Hullabaloo 2006
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I am just like a compass-needle now: I oscillate, I may even swing all the way round, but I hark constantly back to one point — I point continually in one direction.
Shallow Soil 2003
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Besides, I was irresistibly drawn towards her in thought, and those alternative orientations, that mad careering between them of the compass-needle within me, persisted after I had reached home, and expressed themselves in the mutually contradictory letters to Gilberte which
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On returning to camp that evening, we tried them with the compass-needle, and it showed very marked attraction in the case of one or two of the specimens.
The South Pole; an account of the Norwegian antarctic expedition in the 'Fram', 1910 to 1912 2003
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When we speak of the "needle," we really mean the compass-needle.
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There are several ways of supporting the compass-needle.
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The finished compass-needle should swing very freely, and should finally come to rest in an N and S line after vibrating back and forth several times.
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He hung a bar-magnet on a pivot in its center as a compass-needle is hung.
Steam, Steel and Electricity James W. Steele
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The pilot stood steady at the helm, his eyes fixed on the binnacle, each movement of the compass-needle a sign for his ready hands to obey.
Adventures in Many Lands Various
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