<B>compartment, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a separate division set off in any enclosed space by walls or partitions. A ship's hold is often built in watertight compartments so that a leak will fill up only one compartment and not the whole ship. <BR> <I>Ex. Your pencil box has several compartments for holding different things.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(U.S.) a private room in a Pullman car with sleeping accommodations. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Architecture.) a section of a design that is divided into regular parts, such as one panel of a paneled wall. <DD><B> 4. </B>any part, division, or section, as of a plant or animal or the mind. <BR> <I>Ex. (Figurative.) She relegated the experience to that compartment she reserved for unpleasant memories.</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> to separate into compartments; compartmentalize. <BR> <I>Ex. (Figurative.) The Sunday Mirror ... can be expected to back Labour ... The News of the World and the People are ... less easy to compartment (Punch).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="compartmental">
<B>compartmental, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having or divided into compartments. </DL>
<A NAME="compartmentalization">
<B>compartmentalization, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a dividing into compartments. <BR> <I>Ex. (Figurative.) Because of a curious compartmentalization of thinking, both of the books ... manage to side-step the really central issue (Saturday Review).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>the result of such dividing. <BR> <I>Ex. (Figurative.) Scientists are now recognizing the undesirability--and impossibility--of continued compartmentalization between science and society (Bulletin of Atomic Scientists).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="compartmentalize">
<B>compartmentalize, </B>transitive verb, <B>-ized,</B> <B>-izing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>to arrange in compartments or sections. <BR> <I>Ex. Everything is neatly yet automatically compartmentalized by the tray itself (New Yorker).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) to arrange in categories. <BR> <I>Ex. The pursuit of science cannot be completely compartmentalized, missiles in one slot and moon shots in another (Wall Street Journal).</I> </DL>
<B>compartmented, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> fitted with, or divided into, compartments; compartmentalized. <BR> <I>Ex. a compartmented trunk. (Figurative.) When I was in the Bureau of Standards, I had my first brush with the stubborn pride of the compartmented mind (Bulletin of Atomic Scientists).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="compartmentizercar">
<B>compartmentizer car,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a boxcar fitted with several rooms or compartments for less than carload shipments. </DL>
<A NAME="compass">
<B>compass, </B>noun, verb, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1a. </B>an instrument for showing directions, consisting of a needle or compass card that points to the north magnetic pole, which is near the North Pole. <DD><B> b. </B>an instrument showing direction, consisting of a gyroscope that points to the geographical North Pole. <DD><B> 2. </B>Also, <B>compasses.</B> an instrument for drawing circles and measuring distances. A compass consists of two legs hinged together at one end. <DD><B> 3. </B>a boundary; circumference. <BR> <I>Ex. A prison is within the compass of its walls.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>the space within limits; area; extent; range. <BR> <I>Ex. (Figurative.) The old sailor had many adventures within the compass of his lifetime.</I> (SYN) reach, scope. <DD><B> 5. </B>the range of a voice or musical instrument. <BR> <I>Ex. You would sound me from my lowest note to the top of my compass (Shakespeare). A compass of two octaves is by no means unusual for a speaker who could not possibly sing through that range (Simeon Potter).</I> <DD><B> 6. </B>(Figurative.) due or proper limits; moderation. <BR> <I>Ex. I must keep within compass (Samuel Richardson). Within his compass, the pianist was superb.</I> <DD><B> 7. </B>(Archaic.) a circuit; a going round. <DD><B> 8. </B>(Obsolete.) a circle. <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to go around; make a circuit of. <BR> <I>Ex. The astronaut compassed the earth many times in his space capsule.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to hem in; surround. <BR> <I>Ex. The lake is compassed by a ring of mountains.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) to accomplish; obtain; get. <BR> <I>Ex. He compassed his goal.</I> (SYN) achieve, attain, effect, secure. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Figurative.) to plot; scheme. (SYN) contrive, machinate. <DD><B> 5. </B>(Figurative.) to grasp with the mind; understand completely. <BR> <I>Ex. Strange forebodings of ill ... that cannot be compassed (Longfellow).</I> <DD><B> 6. </B>(Obsolete.) to bend into a circle; curve. <DD><I>adj. </I> circular. <BR><I>expr. <B>box the compass,</B> <DD><B> a. </B>to name the points of the compass in order. </I> <I>Ex. I can raise a perpendicular ... and box the compass (Frederick Marryat).</I> <DD><B> b. </B>(Figurative.) to go all the way around and end up where one started. <BR> <I>Ex. The wind would regularly box the compass ... in the course of every day (Richard D. Blackmore).</I> adj. <B>compassable.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="compasscard">
<B>compass card,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a circular card set beneath the needle of a compass, showing the 32 points of direction and the degrees of the circle. <DD><B> 2. </B>a similar card attached to a magnetic device that floats in place of the needle and passes under a line drawn over the compass. </DL>
<A NAME="compasser">
<B>compasser, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who compasses. </DL>
<A NAME="compasses">
<B>compasses, </B>noun pl.<DL COMPACT><DD> See under <B>compass</B> (n. def. 2). </DL>
<B>compassion, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> the feeling for another's sorrow or hardship that leads to help; pity; sympathy. <BR> <I>Ex. Compassion for the orphans caused him to give money for their support.</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> to have compassion on; pity. </DL>
<A NAME="compassionate">
<B>compassionate, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>wishing to help those that suffer; pitying; sympathetic. <BR> <I>Ex. The young policeman's compassionate voice calmed the lost child.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(of a transfer, leave, assignment, etc.) given by superiors or sought for the comfort or convenience of a person and not necessarily in the military interest. <BR> <I>Ex. While the Admiralty deny that leaves have been cancelled, it was confirmed that a small number of men in the Ocean were recalled from compassionate leave (London Times).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Obsolete.) pitiable; piteous. adv. <B>compassionately.</B> noun <B>compassionateness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="compassionfatigue">
<B>compassion fatigue,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> loss of pity or sympathy due to overexposure to human suffering. <BR> <I>Ex. Wihan is encountering a phenomenon known ..., in the case of Bosnia, [as] "compassion fatigue"--people ... numbed by the spectacle of Croats, Serbs, and Muslims slaughtering one another (Timothy W. Ryback).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="compassplane">
<B>compass plane,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a carpenter's plane with a convex under surface, used for smoothing concave surfaces. </DL>
<A NAME="compassplant">
<B>compass plant,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> any one of various plants whose alternate branches or leaves tend to point north and south, as the rosinweed and pilotweed. </DL>
<A NAME="compassrose">
<B>compass rose,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a graduated circle, usually marked in degrees, indicating directions and printed or inscribed on a compass card or elsewhere, as on an aeronautical chart. </DL>
<A NAME="compasssaw">
<B>compass saw,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a handsaw with a very narrow, straight blade for cutting curves. </DL>
<A NAME="compasstermite">
<B>compass termite,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> an Australian termite that builds its mounds for nesting in such a manner that they invariably face north and south. </DL>
<A NAME="compatibility">
<B>compatibility, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the ability to exist together; ability to get on well together; agreement; harmony. <BR> <I>Ex. Marriages sometimes appear to be wrecked by mere details ... often, however, these details are but signs of a fundamental lack of compatibility between the two life partners (Floyd L. Ruch).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Biology.) the ability of transferred or transplanted tissue or cells to function without being rejected. <BR> <I>Ex. blood compatibility.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Botany.) the ability to cross-fertilize or unite with a stock. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Chemistry.) the ability of substances to mix together without impairment of function. <BR> <I>Ex. drug compatibility.</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>the ability of computer software or hardware to be used with different models or systems without adaptation. <BR> <I>Ex. The TRS-80 Model 4 ... desktop computer offers compatibility with existing Model III software and a wide range of advanced features (Popular Computing).</I> <DD><B> 6a. </B>the ability to receive color television signals in black and white on conventional television sets. <DD><B> b. </B>the ability to receive stereophonic sound on a monophonic receiver. </DL>
<A NAME="compatible">
<B>compatible, </B>adj, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>able to exist together; that can get on well together; agreeing; in harmony. <BR> <I>Ex. Cats and birds are seldom compatible.</I> (SYN) agreeable, congenial, congruous. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Biology.) able to be transferred or transplanted into another's body without being rejected. <BR> <I>Ex. compatible blood cells or tissue.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Botany.) capable of cross-fertilization. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Chemistry.) able to be mixed or combined without interfering with one another. <BR> <I>Ex. compatible drugs.</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>(of computer software or hardware) able to be used with different models or systems without adaptation. <BR> <I>Ex. Ideally, all of your "applications" software ... would be "command compatible" and "file compatible"--they would respond to the same instructions from you, and they would work comfortably with each other's documents (Stewart Brand).</I> <DD><B> 6a. </B>of or designating a system of television in which color signals can be received in black and white on conventional sets. <DD><B> b. </B>of or having to do with stereophonic sound that can be received on a monophonic receiver. <DD><I>noun </I> a computer program or equipment that can be used in different models or systems without adaptation. <BR> <I>Ex. The current family of I.B.M. personal computers and compatibles uses an operating system called MSDOS, for Microsoft Disk Operating System (Peter H. Lewis).</I> adv. <B>compatibly.</B> </DL>
