cross-staff

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search

English[edit]

Noun[edit]

cross-staff (plural cross-staffs or cross-staves)

  1. (ecclesiastical, obsolete) A archbishop's cross.
  2. (historical) An early instrument, consisting of a wooden rod with a sliding crosspiece, used for measuring the altitude of a star or for surveying.
    • 2015, David Wootton, The Invention of Science, Penguin, published 2016, page 188:
      The cross-staff is a very simple instrument, a calibrated shaft along which a bar slides.
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=cross-staff&oldid=77945276"