Definition of "gyrocompass" [gyrocompass]

• A compass with a motorized gyroscope whose angular momentum interacts with the force produced by the earth's rotation to maintain a north-south orientation of the gyroscopic spin axis, thereby providing a stable directional reference. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The thing about a gyrocompass is that you can use it differently than that though."
• "About fifteen minutes into the flight we had a gyrocompass failure, and we lost attitude control."
• "The gyrocompass will continue to orient on that star making a full revolution once with each complete rotation of the planet, the Doctor explained."