dead reckoning
English
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dead reckoning
Where it comes from
Uncertain. Not short for deduced or deductive, but this belief explains the alternative spelling ded reckoning (which actually originated centuries later).
noun dead reckonings · ded reckoning · DR
- A method of estimating the position of a ship or aircraft by applying estimates of the distance and direction travelled from a previously known position. In respect to ships/boats, it excludes the effect of wind and current on the vessel. In a certain sense the captains were good sailors, but their knowledge and ambition were limited to dead reckoning, the tar bucket and marlinspike, a wife in every port, and plenty of rum and tobacco with no desire or ability to master the higher branches of navigation and seamanship.
Translations
Every language
noun method of estimating the position of a ship or aircraft
| Español | estima |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | 推測航法 suisoku kōhō |
| Português | navegação estimada |
| Français | navigation à l'estime |
| Deutsch | gissen, Koppelnavigation |
| Ελληνικά | νεκρός απολογισμός nekrós apologismós |
Talk about this word "dead reckoning." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/dead%20reckoning. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. dead reckoning. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/dead%20reckoning "dead reckoning." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/dead%20reckoning.Cite this
@misc{dead_reckoning_2026,
title = {dead reckoning},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/dead%20reckoning},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
