octant
- noun
- /ˈɑk.tənt/
- Archaic
:
octante
- He carefully adjusted the octant to get an accurate reading of the angle to the sun.
Examples
-
I wish I had an octant.
Fiction book (2002) -
In the dream, he would look down at his maps and charts, octant and calipers, read the wind drift indicator, and see, just as if it were a great streak of red ink painted across the surface of the blue Mediterranean waves, the route home.
Fiction book (2000) -
Navigators used the octant to measure the altitude of stars above the horizon.
-
The sailor consulted his octant to determine their position on the open sea.
Synonyms
4
9.5
A tool for measuring the angle between two visible objects to find a ship's position
2
9.9
An old instrument used to measure how high stars are and find direction at sea
An old instrument with three arms for measuring the height of stars
How Accurate
- Specialized
205
2.6
- Specialized
1
9.9
- Specialized
4
9.5
- Archaic
3
3.4
Surface Forms
Morphology
octant = oct + ant
Formed from the combining form 'oct-' (eight) + suffix '-ant'; the numerical relation is clear to learners familiar with 'oct-' but the combining form 'oct' is not a standalone English word, so the relation may not be obvious to all learners.
Etymology
The word octant comes from the Latin root oct- meaning 'eight', like in octagon. The instrument was named because its scale covers one-eighth of a full circle, 45 degrees, so sailors used it to measure angles to stars and find their position.