Search the Dictionary

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.

Capable of being compassed or accomplished. Burke.

Rounded; arched. [Obs.] She came . . . into the compassed window. Shak.

An instrument for describing circles, measuring figures, etc., consisting of two, or (rarely) more, pointed branches, or legs, usually joined at the top by a rivet on which they move.

Curved; bent; as, compassing timbers.

s or misfortunes of another; pity; commiseration. Womanly igenuity set to work by womanly compassion. Macaulay.

Deserving compassion or pity; pitiable. [R.] Barrow.

erciful. There never was any heart truly great and generous, that was not also tender and compassionate. South.

In a compassionate manner; mercifully. Clarendon.

The quality or state of being compassionate.

Having no compass. Knowles.

A small pair of compasses, one leg of which carries a pencil, or a pen, for drawing circles. Its legs are often connected by a bow- shaped spring, instead of by a joint.

or go round so as to surround closely; to encircle; to inclose; to environ; as, a ring encompasses the finger; an army encompasses a city; a voyage encompassing the world. Shak. A question may be encompassed with difficulty. C. J. Smith. The love of all thy sons encompass thee. Tennyson.

The act of surrounding, or the state of being surrounded; circumvention. By this encompassment and drift of question. Shak.

See Encompass.

Want of compassion or pity. [Obs.] Bp. Sanderson.

Not compassionate; void of pity or of tenderness; remorseless. -- In`com*pas"sion*ate*ly, adv. -- In`com*pas"sion*ate*ness, n.

To exceed the compass or limits of. Bacon.

The mariner's compass. See under Compass.

of the sun's amplitude at the time of its rising or setting, to find the variation of the compass.