crossstaff

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word crossstaff. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word crossstaff, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say crossstaff in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word crossstaff you have here. The definition of the word crossstaff will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofcrossstaff, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.

English

Noun

crossstaff (plural crossstaffs)

  1. (rare) Alternative form of cross-staff
    • 1980, Per Sörbom, Tekniska museet (Stockholm, Sweden), Transport Technology and Social Change: Symposium 1979, pages 124 and 133:
      Yet even with these corrections, Harriot was not satisfied with the crossstaff as currently made. To take a precise navigational sighting using a crossstaff it is necessary to look two ways at once—at the sun, for instance, and at the horizon. The National Maritime Museum at Greenwich has 1 crossstaff, 15 backstaffs, and 98 octants; the Peabody Museum at Salem, Massachusetts has 2 crossstaffs, 11 backstaffs, and 82 octants.
    • 2001, Meredith P. Lillich, Studies in Medieval Stained Glass and Monasticism, pages 253 and 443:
      Several archbishops holding such crossstaffs appear in the Reims nave.
      []
      In one an enthroned archbishop with crossstaff and moneybags presented a gold piece, as down payment, to architects and master mascons dressed in medieval chaperons.