paradoxaladj.
/ˌparəˈdɒksl/, U.S. /ˌpɛrəˈdɑks(ə)l/ Now rare.
1. Nautical. Relating to or designating a navigational course in which a ship follows a rhumb line, i.e., a course which cuts meridians at a constant angle (other than a right angle). Chiefly in paradoxal compass n. a projection on which such a course could be plotted, and on which it would appear as part of a spiral curve. Now historical.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > equipment of vessel > navigational aids > [noun] > compass > types of
paradoxal compass1558
steering compass1669
variation compass1669
correcting compass1821
telltale1828
pelorus1854
liquid compass1865
gyroscope-compass1909
gyro-compass1910
radio compass1912
gyro1914
gyroscopic compass1920
inductor compass1922
gyro-pilot1923
induction compass1925
astrocompass1942
flux gate compass1946
1558 J. Dee Canon Gubernauticus in W. Boume Regiment for Sea 419 An Arithmeticall Resolution of the Paradoxall Compas.
1594 J. Davis (title) The Sea-mans Secrets..wherein is taught the 3 kindes of Sailing, Horizontall, Paradoxall, and Sayling vpon a great Circle.
1594 J. Davis Sea-mans Secrets ii, in Wks. (1880) 315 By which motion lines are described neyther circular nor straight, but concurred or winding lines, and are therefore called paradoxall, because it is beyond opinion that such lines should be described by plaine horizontall motion.
1880 A. H. Markham in J. Davis Voy. & Wks. 240 The paradoxall compass must have been some instrument showing how the line of the course cuts the several meridians, these meridians being drawn upon their proper inclination.
1991 Isis 82 648 The answer to..the problem of conflicting sailing directions was a stereographic polar projection showing the pole at the center and the latitudinal lines as concentric circles. John Dee apparently invented such a projection, which he called the ‘Paradoxal Compass,’ in 1556.
2. gen. Paradoxical.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > contrariety or contrast > [adjective] > paradoxical
paradoxal1602
paradoxic1632
paradoxical1638
inconceivable1655
schizoid1955
schizophrenic1955
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > equivocal quality, ambiguity > paradox > [adjective]
paradoxal1602
paradox1624
paradoxial1624
paradoxic1632
paradoxical1638
paradoxographical1814
Irish1820
ironical1868
ironic1889
the world > relative properties > order > disorder > irregularity > unconformity > [adjective] > to nature, reason, or rule
improper1531
preposterous1533
paradoxical1646
inconceivable1754
paradoxal1888
1602 W. Watson Decacordon Ten Quodlibeticall Questions 331 Their paradoxall, pragmaticall, and stratagemicall doctrine.
1659 J. Milton Considerations touching Hirelings To Parl. sig. A8 If it suffic'd som years past to convince and satisfie the uningag'd of other nations..though then held paradoxal.
a1718 W. Penn Tracts in Wks. (1726) I. 678 As Paradoxal as any may please to think it.
a1777 W. Dodd Thoughts in Prison (1793) 127 Thy dogmas here, so paradoxal deem'd By weak half-thinkers.
1819 N. Amer. Rev. Mar. 438 But Berkeley was very superior to the dogmatic ‘Lord of paradoxal land’.
1888 Nature 19 July 288/2 On paradoxal deafness..in which the patient is deaf to words uttered in the silence of a room, but not in a noisy street.
1996 Chapel Hill (N. Carolina) Herald (Nexis) 12 Dec. (Hometown section) 3 ‘Instead of fighting the fear, which most people try to do, he actively teaches people how to embrace it,’ said Graedon. ‘It is paradoxal. I am asking them to accept the very fear or obsession they are experiencing.’
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
adj.1558