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ity to a magnet so drawn that any point in it is tangential with the direction of a short compass needle held at that point. Faraday. -- Line of life (Palmistry), a line on the inside of the hand, curving about the base of the thumb, supposed to indicate, by its form or position, the length of a person's life. -- Lin…

not directly affecting the system. -- Local attraction (Magnetism), an attraction near a compass, causing its needle to deviate from its proper direction, especially on shipboard. -- Local battery (Teleg.), the battery which actuates the recording instruments of a telegraphic station, as distinguished from the batter…

a ship sails when her course is always in the direction of one and the same point of the compass.

to be used by lubbers. Totten. -- Lubber's line, point, or mark, a line or point in the compass case indicating the head of the ship, and consequently the course which the ship is steering.

Having impaired polarity; -- applied to a compass needle. [Colloq.] Like mad, like a mad person; in a furious manner; as, to run like mad. L'Estrange. -- To run mad. (a) To become wild with excitement. (b) To run wildly about under the influence of hydrophobia; to become affected with hydrophobia. -- To run mad after…

ogether with great power. -- Magnetic compensator, a contrivance connected with a ship's compass for compensating or neutralizing the effect of the iron of the ship upon the needle. -- Magnetic curves, curves indicating lines of magnetic force, as in the arrangement of iron filings between the poles of a powerful mag…

whose occupation is to assist in navigating ships; a seaman or sailor. Chaucer. Mariner's compass. See under Compass.

problem by any art or contrivance not strictly geometrical, as by means of the ruler and compasses, or other instruments.

e met his fate. Of vice or virtue, whether blest or curst, Which meets contempt, or which compassion first. Pope.

as by fear. My soul melteth for heaviness. Ps. cxix. 28. Melting with tenderness and kind compassion. Shak.

Unwilling to give pain; compassionate. A merciful man will be merciful to his beast. Old Proverb.

to inflict harm under circumstances of provocation, when one has the power to inflict it; compassionate treatment of an offender or adversary; clemency. Examples of justice must be made for terror to some; examples of mercy for comfort to others. Bacon.

Having a medium compass between the soprano and contralto; -- said of the voice of a female singer. -- n.

Fig.: A rich source of wealth or other good. Shak. Mine dial, a form of magnetic compass used by miners. -- Mine pig, pig iron made wholly from ore; in distinction from cinder pig, which is made from ore mixed with forge or mill cinder. Raymond.

To represent or depict in a small compass, or on a small scale.

Compassion; pity; mercy. [Obs.]

ght and wrong, so far as they are properly subject to rules. Keep at the least within the compass of moral actions, which have in them vice or virtue. Hooker. Mankind is broken loose from moral bands. Dryden. She had wandered without rule or guidance in a moral wilderness. Hawthorne.

To arouse the feelings or passions of; especially, to excite to tenderness or compassion; to touch pathetically; to excite, as an emotion. Shak. When he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them. Matt. ix. 36. [The use of images] in orations and poetry is to move pity or terror. Felton.…

ction of persons; a crowd; an assembly. But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them. Matt. ix. 36.

; very limited; circumscribed. The Jews were but a small nation, and confined to a narrow compass in the world. Bp. Wilkins.