sextant

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see also: Sextant

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Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈsɛkstənt/

Noun

sextant (plural sextants)

1. (nautical) A navigational device for deriving angular distances between objects so as to determine latitude and longitude.
   • 1918, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Land That Time Forgot Chapter IV

     For several days things went along in about the same course. I took our position every morning with my crude sextant; but the results were always most unsatisfactory. They always showed a considerable westing when I knew that we had been sailing due north. I blamed my crude instrument, and kept on.

2. (geometry) One sixth of a circle or disc; a sector with an angle of 60°.
3. (dentistry) One of six groups of adjacent teeth, excluding the wisdom teeth. The front sextants go from canine to canine, and there are sextants on the right and left of these. See .

Translations

• French: sextant
• German: Sextant
• Portuguese: sextante
• Russian: секста́нт
• Spanish: sextante

Translations

• Portuguese: sextante

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Sextant

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Proper noun

1. (astronomy) The constellation Sextans.

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