binnacle

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. The wooden housing for a ship's compass, with its corrector magnets and illuminating arrangements.
  2. The instrument cluster on a car or motorcycle.

Pronunciation

/ˈbɪnəkəl/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-binnacle.wav

Word forms

binnacle binnacles

Etymology

Corruption of earlier bittacle, from French habitacle. Or from obsolete Spanish or Portuguese bitácula, both from Late Latin habitāculum (“little dwelling place”). Compare modern Spanish bitácora.

Derived words

This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.