資料來源 : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Surveyor \Sur*vey"or\, n.
1. One placed to superintend others; an overseer; an
inspector.
Were 't not madness then, To make the fox surveyor
of the fold? --Shak.
2. One who views and examines for the purpose of ascertaining
the condition, quantity, or quality of anything; as, a
surveyor of highways, ordnance, etc.
3. One who surveys or measures land; one who practices the
art of surveying.
4. (Customs)
(a) An officer who ascertains the contents of casks, and
the quantity of liquors subject to duty; a gauger.
(b) In the United States, an officer whose duties include
the various measures to be taken for ascertaining the
quantity, condition, and value of merchandise brought
into a port. --Abbot.
{Surveyor general}.
(a) A principal surveyor; as, the surveyor general of the
king's manors, or of woods and parks. [Eng.]
(b) An officer having charge of the survey of the public
lands of a land district. [U.S.] --Davies & Peck
(Math. Dict.).
{Surveyor's compass}. See {Circumferentor}.
{Surveyor's level}. See under {Level}.
4. Extent; reach; sweep; capacity; sphere; as, the compass of
his eye; the compass of imagination.
The compass of his argument. --Wordsworth.
5. Moderate bounds, limits of truth; moderation; due limits;
-- used with within.
In two hundred years before (I speak within
compass), no such commission had been executed.
--Sir J.
Davies.
6. (Mus.) The range of notes, or tones, within the capacity
of a voice or instrument.
You would sound me from my lowest note to the top of
my compass. --Shak.
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.
He that first discovered the use of the compass did
more for the supplying and increase of useful
commodities than those who built workhouses.
--Locke.
8. A pair of compasses. [R.] See {Compasses.}.
To fix one foot of their compass wherever they
please. --Swift.
9. A circle; a continent. [Obs.]
The tryne compas [the threefold world containing
earth, sea, and heaven. --Skeat.] --Chaucer.
{Azimuth compass}. See under {Azimuth}.
{Beam compass}. See under {Beam}.
{Compass card}, the circular card attached to the needles of
a mariner's compass, on which are marked the thirty-two
points or rhumbs.
{Compass dial}, a small pocket compass fitted with a sundial
to tell the hour of the day.
{Compass plane} (Carp.), a plane, convex in the direction of
its length on the under side, for smoothing the concave
faces of curved woodwork.
{Compass plant}, {Compass flower} (Bot.), a plant of the
American prairies ({Silphium laciniatum}), not unlike a
small sunflower; rosinweed. Its lower and root leaves are
vertical, and on the prairies are disposed to present
their edges north and south.
Its leaves are turned to the north as true as the
magnet: This is the compass flower. --Longefellow.
{Compass saw}, a saw with a narrow blade, which will cut in a
curve; -- called also {fret saw} and {keyhole saw}.
{Compass timber} (Shipbuilding), curved or crooked timber.
{Compass window} (Arch.), a circular bay window or oriel
window.
{Mariner's compass}, a kind of compass used in navigation. It
has two or more magnetic needles permanently attached to a
card, which moves freely upon a pivot, and is read with
reference to a mark on the box representing the ship's
head. The card is divided into thirty-two points, called
also rhumbs, and the glass-covered box or bowl containing
it is suspended in gimbals within the binnacle, in order
to preserve its horizontal position.
{Surveyor's compass}, an instrument used in surveying for
measuring horizontal angles. See {Circumferentor}.
{Variation compass}, a compass of delicate construction, used
in observations on the variations of the needle.
{To fetch a compass}, to make a circuit.