sextant• That was one of the problems of using the piste and a sextant.• Even Powell, constantly consultingsextant and compass, felt flummoxed.• Because of the track, navigation had been easy and I had been leaving my sextant in the Land Rover.• Once, Billy Hawkins got up in the middle of dinner, walked to the boats, and pulled out the sextant.• So I forgot about him, at least until that evening when I gave Ellen some practice with the sextant.• You had to be able to fix your position just like a ship at sea, with sextant and star charts.
Originsextant
(1500-1600)Modern Latinsextans“sixth part of a circle”, from Latinsextus“sixth”