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dead reckoning
3 dictionary results for: Dead reckoning
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
dead reckoning
–noun Navigation.
1.calculation of one's position on the basis of distance run on various headings since the last precisely observed position, with as accurate allowance as possible being made for wind, currents, compass errors, etc.
2.one's position as so calculated.
[Origin: 1605–15]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
dead reckoning  
n.  
  1. A method of estimating the position of an aircraft or a ship without astronomical observations, as by applying to a previously determined position the course and distance traveled since.
  2. Predictive calculation based on inference; guesswork.


[Possibly alteration of ded., abbr. of deduced, from deduce, to trace from the beginning; see deduce.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
dead reckoning

noun
1. an estimate based on little or no information [syn: guess] 
2. navigation without the aid of celestial observations 

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
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