ASTROLABE • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Astrolabe

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noun

Astrolabe n.

(Astron.) An instrument for observing or showing the positions of the stars. It is now disused. Note: Among the ancients, it was essentially the armillary sphere. A graduated circle with sights, for taking altitudes at sea, was called an astrolabe in the 18th century. It is now superseded by the quadrant and sextant.

A stereographic projection of the sphere on the plane of a great circle, as the equator, or a meridian; a planisphere.

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Etymology of 'Astrolabe'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Astrolabe" Quotes from Famous Books

... reading, but which we must chiefly impute to the customs of the age, Chaucer was, in the main, a religious man, and his poems are, in the main, religious poems. Chaucer was certainly a good father, and attended as far as he could to the education of his boys. His "Astrolabe," a work on astronomy, was written for his little Lewis, who was probably his ...

— Great Men and Famous Women, Vol. 7 of 8 • Charles F. (Charles Francis) Horne

... had fought abreast with the valiant champion of Christendom, Matthias Corvinus. On the table lay a variety of mathematical and astrological instruments, all of the most rich materials and curious workmanship. His astrolabe of silver was the gift of the Emperor of Germany, and his Jacob's staff of ebony [a divining rod made of a hazel fork], jointed with gold and curiously inlaid, was a mark of ...

— Quentin Durward • Sir Walter Scott