Pelorus Definition

pə-lôrəs
pelorus
noun
A fixed compass card on which bearings relative to a ship's heading are taken.
American Heritage
A device for taking bearings, consisting of a flat metal ring, equipped with sighting vanes or a small telescope, that fits over a compass card or gyrocompass.
Webster's New World
A fixed compass card on which bearings relative to a ship's heading are taken.
American Heritage
A device used to take a bearing on a distant object.
Wiktionary

Other Word Forms of Pelorus

Noun

Singular:
pelorus
Plural:
peloruses

Origin of Pelorus

  • Probably named around 1854 by the applicants for the British patent on the device, after Latin Pelōrus Greek Pelōros the name of a skilled pilot whom Hannibal is said to have put to death in Messina for treachery (although Hannibal later realized the pilot's faithfulness and erected a monument to him there) probably a legendary name derived from Greek Pelōros, Pelōrias ancient names of Messina probably from pelōros prodigious, monstrous (perhaps from the dangerous whirlpool, winds, and currents of the Strait of Messina) peloria

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • Probably named around 1854 by the applicants for the British patent on the device, after Latin Pelōrus Greek Pelōros the name of a skilled pilot whom Hannibal is said to have put to death in Messina for treachery (although Hannibal later realized the pilot's faithfulness and erected a monument to him there) probably a legendary name derived from Greek Pelōros, Pelōrias ancient names of Messina probably from pelōros prodigious, monstrous (perhaps from the dangerous whirlpool, winds, and currents of the Strait of Messina) peloria

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • Reportedly the name of Hannibal's pilot.

    From Wiktionary

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