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cross-staff
[ kraws-staf, -stahf, kros- ]
noun
, Astronomy.
, plural cross-staffs, cross-staves.
- an instrument for measuring the angle of elevation of heavenly bodies, consisting of a calibrated staff with another shorter staff perpendicular to and sliding on it.
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Word History and Origins
Origin of cross-staff1
1400–50, for an earlier sense; late Middle English
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Example Sentences
Iacobs staffean instrument formerly used for measuring the altitude of the sun; a cross-staff.
From Project Gutenberg
Above, it has the small arc of the Davis quadrant with the sliding rod of the cross-staff below.
From Project Gutenberg
But some kind of a dratted cross-current ketched me and I'm sailin' out to sea, I finds, without compass or cross-staff.
From Project Gutenberg
He rubbed his eyes, looked again, adjusting his observation by a cross-staff which had been placed so as to bear upon the point.
From Project Gutenberg
A man upon the frame-work controls this wheel, guided by a sight on the frame, and a cross-staff at the end of the field.
From Project Gutenberg
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