Boxing the compass is the action of naming all thirty-two clockwise points of the compass in order. Such names are formed by the initials of the cardinal directions and their intermediate ordinal directions, and are very handy to refer to a heading (or course or azimuth) in a general or colloquial fashion, without having to resort to computing or recalling degrees. For most applications, the minor points have been superseded by degrees measured clockwise from North.
Read more about Boxing The Compass: Compass Points, Compass Point Names, Traditional Names
Famous quotes containing the words boxing and/or compass:
“... to paint with oil paints for the first time ... is like trying to make something exquisitely accurate and microscopically clear out of mud pies with boxing gloves on.”
—Brenda Ueland (1891–1985)
“loosely bound
By countless silken ties of love and thought
To everything on earth the compass round,”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)