Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Same as
cross-staff , 1.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Naut.) An instrument formerly used at sea for taking the altitudes of heavenly bodies, now superseded by the sextant; -- called also
cross-staff .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun nautical An
instrument formerly used at sea for taking thealtitudes ofheavenly bodies , later replaced by thesextant .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
fore- + staff
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Examples
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Schouten and other heroic marine worthies of distant times had navigated the globe, discovered new worlds, penetrated into the most secret solitudes of the deep without any notion of longitude and with no better instruments to take the sun's height than the forestaff and astrolabe.
The Frozen Pirate 1877
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Here also our gunner took an observation with his forestaff, to determine our latitude, and he found now, that having marched about thirty-three days northward, we were in 6 degrees 22 minutes south latitude.
The Life, Adventures & Piracies of the Famous Captain Singleton Daniel Defoe 1696
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