Other forms: sextants
A sextant is an instrument for finding position by the stars. Take a sight with the sextant, a brass sextant, read the sextant.
It measures the angle between a star and the horizon, and with an accurate clock that gives a position anywhere on earth. It works with no power and no satellites, which is why ships still carry one and navigators are still taught to use it.
1nounsextantAn instrument for finding position by the stars.
“Before GPS, sailors used a sextant to work out their position at sea.”
sextant is an instrument.
Latin sextans means a sixth part, since the arc of the instrument is a sixth of a circle.
Latin
sextāns
English, today
sextant
From Latin sextāns.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA