1.  compass(n = noun.artifact) - navigational instrument for finding directions;
is a kind of navigational instrument
has particulars: gyrocompass, magnetic compass

2.  compass(n = noun.attribute) ambit, orbit, range, reach, scope - an area in which something acts or operates or has power or control:; "the range of a supersonic jet"; "a piano has a greater range than the human voice"; "the ambit of municipal legislation"; "within the compass of this article"; "within the scope of an investigation"; "outside the reach of the law"; "in the political orbit of a world power"
is a kind of extent
has particulars: approximate range, ballpark, confines, contrast, internationalism, internationality, latitude, horizon, purview, view, expanse, sweep, gamut, spectrum, palette, pallet
Derived form verb compass₁

3.  compass(n = noun.cognition) grasp, range, reach - the limit of capability; "within the compass of education"
is a kind of capability, capableness, potentiality
has particulars: ken, sight
Derived form verb compass₁

4.  compass(n = noun.artifact) - drafting instrument used for drawing circles;
is a kind of drafting instrument

1.  compass(v = verb.social) - bring about; accomplish; "This writer attempts more than his talents can compass"
is one way to accomplish, achieve, attain, reach
Derived forms noun compass₂, noun compass₃
Sample sentences: Somebody ----s something; Something ----s something

2.  compass(v = verb.motion) circumnavigate - travel around, either by plane or ship; "We compassed the earth"
is one way to circle
Sample sentences: Somebody ----s something; Something ----s something

3.  compass(v = verb.cognition) apprehend, comprehend, dig, get the picture, grasp, grok, savvy - get the meaning of something; "Do you comprehend the meaning of this letter?"
is one way to understand
Sample sentences: Somebody ----s something; Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

1.  A passing round; circuit; circuitous course. [1913 Webster]
"They fetched a compass of seven day's journey." [1913 Webster]
"This day I breathed first; time is come round,
And where I did begin, there shall I end;
My life is run his compass." [1913 Webster]

2.  An inclosing limit; boundary; circumference; as, within the compass of an encircling wall. [1913 Webster]

3.  An inclosed space; an area; extent. [1913 Webster]
"Their wisdom . . . lies in a very narrow compass." [1913 Webster]

4.  Extent; reach; sweep; capacity; sphere; as, the compass of his eye; the compass of imagination. [1913 Webster]
"The compass of his argument." [1913 Webster]

5.  Moderate bounds, limits of truth; moderation; due limits; -- used with within. [1913 Webster]
"In two hundred years before (I speak within compass), no such commission had been executed." [1913 Webster]

6.  The range of notes, or tones, within the capacity of a voice or instrument. [1913 Webster]
"You would sound me from my lowest note to the top of my compass." [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]
"He that first discovered the use of the compass did more for the supplying and increase of useful commodities than those who built workhouses." [1913 Webster]

8.  A pair of compasses.
"To fix one foot of their compass wherever they please." [1913 Webster]

9.  A circle; a continent. [1913 Webster]
"The tryne compas [the threefold world containing earth, sea, and heaven. Skeat.]" [1913 Webster]
"Its leaves are turned to the north as true as the magnet:
This is the compass flower."

1.  To go about or entirely round; to make the circuit of. [1913 Webster]
"Ye shall compass the city seven times." [1913 Webster]
"We the globe can compass soon." [1913 Webster]

2.  To inclose on all sides; to surround; to encircle; to environ; to invest; to besiege; -- used with about, round, around, and round about. [1913 Webster]
"With terrors and with clamors compassed round." [1913 Webster]
"Now all the blessings
Of a glad father compass thee about." [1913 Webster]
"Thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round." [1913 Webster]

3.  To reach round; to circumvent; to get within one's power; to obtain; to accomplish. [1913 Webster]
"If I can check my erring love, I will:
If not, to compass her I'll use my skill." [1913 Webster]
"How can you hope to compass your designs?" [1913 Webster]

4.  To curve; to bend into a circular form. Shak. [1913 Webster]

5.  To purpose; to intend; to imagine; to plot. [1913 Webster]
"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." [1913 Webster]

compass, n. & v.
--n.
1 (in full magnetic compass) an instrument showing the direction of magnetic north and bearings from it.
2 (usu. in pl.) an instrument for taking measurements and describing circles, with two arms connected at one end by a movable joint.
3 a circumference or boundary.
4 area, extent; scope (e.g. of knowledge or experience) (beyond my compass).
5 the range of tones of a voice or a musical instrument.
--v.tr. literary 1 hem in.
2 grasp mentally.
3 contrive, accomplish.
4 go round.

Idiom:
compass card a circular rotating card showing the
32 principal bearings, forming the indicator of a magnetic compass. compass rose a circle of the principal directions marked on a chart. compass-saw a saw with a narrow blade, for cutting curves. compass window a bay window with a semi-circular curve.

Derivative:
compassable adj.

Etymology:
ME f. OF compas ult. f. L passus PACE(1)

VB  intend, purpose, design, mean, have to, propose to oneself, harbor a design, have in view, have in contemplation, have in one's eye, have in petto, have an eye to, bid for, labor for, be after, aspire after, endeavor after, be at, aim at, drive at, point at, level at, aspire at, take aim, set before oneself, study to, take upon oneself, take into one's head, meditate, contemplate of, think of, dream of, talk of, premeditate, compass, calculate, destine, destinate, propose, project, have a mind to, desire, pursue.

N  degree, grade, extent, measure, amount, ratio, stint, standard, height, pitch, reach, amplitude, range, scope, caliber, gradation, shade, tenor, compass, sphere, station, rank, standing, rate, way, sort, point, mark, stage, intensity, strength, comparative, gradual, shading off, within the bounds, by degrees, gradually, inasmuch, pro tanto, however, howsoever, step by step, bit by bit, little by little, inch by inch, drop by drop, a little at a time, by inches, by slow degrees, by degrees, by little and little, in some degree, in some measure, to some extent, di grado in grado.

N  direction, management, managery, government, gubernation, conduct, legislation, regulation, guidance, bossism, legislature, steerage, pilotage, reins, reins of government, helm, rudder, needle, compass, guiding star, load star, lode star, pole star, cynosure, supervision, superintendence, surveillance, oversight, eye of the master, control, charge, board of control, command, premiership, senatorship, director, chair, portfolio, statesmanship, statecraft, kingcraft, queencraft, ministry, ministration, administration, stewardship, proctorship, agency, director, directing, hegemonic, at the helm, at the head of, direction, bearing, course, vector, set, drift, tenor, tendency, incidence, bending, trending, dip, tack, aim, collimation, steering steerage, point of the compass, cardinal points, North East, South, West, N by E, ENE, NE by N, NE, rhumb, azimuth, line of collimation, line, path, road, range, quarter, line of march, alignment, allignment, air line, beeline, straight shoot, directed, directed towards, pointing towards, bound for, aligned, with alligned with, direct, straight, undeviating, unswerving, straightforward, North, Northern, Northerly, towards, on the road, on the high road to, en avant, versus, to, hither, thither, whither, directly, straight as an arrow, forwards as an arrow, point blank, in a bee line to, in a direct line to, as the crow flies, in a straight line to, in a bee line for, in a direct line for, in a straight line for, in a bee line with, in a direct line with, in a straight line with, in a line with, full tilt at, as the crow flies, before the wind, near the wind, close to the wind, against the wind, windwards, in the wind's eye, through, via, by way of, in all directions, in all manner of ways, quaquaversum, from the four winds, the shortest distance between two points is a stra.

VB  effect, effectuate, accomplish, achieve, compass, consummate, hammer out, bring to maturity, bring to perfection, perfect, complete, elaborate, do, execute, make, go through, get through, work out, enact, bring about, bring to bear, bring to pass, bring through, bring to a head, despatch, dispatch, knock off, finish off, polish off, make short work of, dispose of, set at rest, perform, discharge, fulfill, realize, put in practice, put in force, carry out, carry into effect, carry into execution, make good, be as good as one's word, do thoroughly, not do by halves, go the whole hog, drive home, be in at the death, carry through, play out, exhaust, fill the bill, finish, bring to a close, wind up, stamp, clinch, seal, set the seal on, put the seal, give the final touch, to, put the last, put the finishing hand to, put the finishing touches on, crown, crown all, cap, ripen, culminate, come to a head, come to a crisis, come to its end, die a natural death, die of old age, run its course, run one's race, touch the goal, reach the goal, attain the goal, reach, get in the harvest.

N  space, extension, extent, superficial extent, expanse, stretch, hyperspace, room, scope, range, field, way, expansion, compass, sweep, swing, spread, dimension, length, distance, size, volume, hypervolume, latitude, play, leeway, purchase, tolerance, room for maneuver, spare room, elbow room, house room, stowage, roomage, margin, opening, sphere, arena, open space, free space, void, waste, wildness, wilderness, moor, moorland, campagna, abyss, unlimited space, infinity, world, ubiquity, length and breadth of the land, proportions, acreage, acres, acres and perches, roods and perches, hectares, square miles, square inches, square yards, square centimeters, square meters, yards (clothing), ares, arpents, spacious, roomy, extensive, expansive, capacious, ample, widespread, vast, world-wide, uncircumscribed, boundless, shoreless, trackless, pathless, extended, extensively, wherever, everywhere, far and near, far and wide, right and left, all over, all the world over, throughout the world, throughout the length and breadth of the land, under the sun, in every quarter, in all quarters, in all lands, here there and everywhere, from pole to pole, from China to Peru, from Indus to the pole, from Dan to Beersheba, from end to end, on the face of the earth, in the wide world, from all points of the compass, to the four winds, to the uttermost parts of the earth.

VB  lie around, surround, beset, compass, encompass, environ, inclose, enclose, encircle, embrace, circumvent, lap, gird, belt, begird, engird, skirt, twine round, hem in.

N  measurement, admeasurement, mensuration, survey, valuation, appraisement, assessment, assize, estimate, estimation, dead reckoning, reckoning, gauging, horse power, metrology, weights and measures, compound arithmetic, measure, yard measure, standard, rule, foot rule, compass, calipers, gage, gauge, meter, line, rod, check, dividers, velo, flood mark, high water mark, Plimsoll line, index, scale, graduation, graduated scale, nonius, vernier, bathometer, galvanometer, heliometer, interferometer, odometer, ombrometer, pantometer, pluviometer, pneumatometer, pneumometer, radiometer, refractometer, respirometer, rheometer, spirometer, telemeter, udometer, vacuometer, variometer, viameter, thermometer, thermistor (heat) &c, barometer (air), anemometer (wind), dynamometer, goniometer, (angle) 244 meter, landmark, balance, scale, marigraph, pneumatograph, stethograph, rain gauge, rain gage, voltmeter (volts), ammeter (amps), spectrophotometer (light absorbance), mass spectrophotometer (molecular mass), geiger counter, scintillation counter (radioactivity), pycnometer (liquid density), graduated cylinder, volumetric flask (volume), radar gun (velocity), radar (distance), side-looking radar, (shape, topography), sonar (depth in water), light meter (light intensity), clock, watch, stopwatch, chronometer (time), anemometer (wind velocity), densitometer (color intensity), measurability, computability, determinability, coordinates, ordinate and abscissa, polar coordinates, latitude and longitude, declination and right ascension, altitude and azimuth, geometry, stereometry, hypsometry, metage, surveying, land surveying, geodesy, geodetics, geodesia, orthometry, altimetry, cadastre, astrolabe, armillary sphere, land surveyor, geometer, measuring, metric, metrical, measurable, perceptible, noticeable, detectable, appreciable, ponderable, determinable, fathomable, geodetical, topographic, topographical, cartographic, cartographical.

cardinal compass point, compass card, compass flower, compass north, compass plane, compass plant, compass point, compass saw, magnetic compass, mariner's compass, radio compass, sea compass