Meaning of quintant | Babel Free

Definitions

1. An instrument used for measuring angular distance, capable of measuring angles of up to 72 or 144 degrees.
   historical
2. A fifth of a circle.
   rare

Equivalents

Examples

“In former days octants, quintants and quadrants were in general use. The only basic difference between these instruments and the sextant is in the length of the arc.”

“McCarthy, it may be noted, had escaped when the Andamans were invaded, in a twelve-person party aboard a launch. He had navigated the party as far as Ceylon using a hydrographic quintant in lieu of a magnetic compass.”

“Midstream at the treacherous Sankrail and Panchpara stretches of the river the crew set about the task of preserving safe passage with austerity technologies. Accuracy was ensured by combining the ancient quintant and chart used for two hundred years on the river and an aging echo-sounder.”

“Sectors are particularly denominated from the proportional part of the circle they contain; thus, a quadrant contains a 4th part of the circle; a quintant, the 5th part; a sextant, the 6th part; an octant, the 8th part; &c.”

“An inspection of this diagram will show at once that as far as spine locomotion is concerned Lytechinus may creep in any direction with apparent indifference. That this indifference is probably a real one is shown more clearly in Fig. 2 in which is plotted for each of the five ambulacral quintants the instances of creeping falling within each one.”

“The dome rests on five pylons, equally spaced at 72°; two of the five quintants embrace the office building.”

CEFR level