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bin·na·cle | \ ˈbi-ni-kəl 
\
\Definition of binnacle
1 : a housing for a ship's compass and a lamp
2 : a container for instruments in an automobile dashboard
All but the shortest drivers find unrestricted sightlines to a hooded instrument binnacle loaded with nicely legible gauges.— Daniel Charles Ross
Examples of binnacle in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web When deployed, that binnacle lowers, ramp style, toward the ground, releasing the robot.
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Alexander Stoklosa, Car and Driver, "If You Crash a Mercedes-Benz in the Future, It Could Deploy a Robot to Warn Other Drivers," 21 May 2019 Again, this remains my favorite implementation of a digital instrument display—so far only Audi seems to be thinking outside of the rectangular box to fill the entire binnacle.
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Jonathan M. Gitlin, Ars Technica, "We’ve driven Audi’s first proper electric car, the 2019 e-tron SUV," 7 Dec. 2018 The gold and white binnacle housed on the ship's veranda deck was originally part of the HMY Royal George, a royal yacht that served Queen Victoria.
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Lauren Hubbard, Town & Country, "The Story Behind the Royal Family's Yacht, Britannia," 30 Sep. 2018 The instrument cluster — a thin, curved LCD panel — replaces the usual gauge binnacle.
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Tom Voelk, New York Times, "Porsche Mission E Cross Turismo Review: ‘Silence Is the New Power’," 6 June 2018 Digital screens have also replaced most of the traditional analog dials that used to live in your average Porsche instrument binnacle.
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Jonathan M. Gitlin, Ars Technica, "Porsche’s Panamera 4 E-Hybrid Sport Turismo is a heck of a hybrid," 16 May 2018 Instruments are tucked down deep in their binnacle, and an 8.0-inch display screen rises prominently from the dashboard above the digital climate controls.
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Steve Siler, Car and Driver, "2019 Toyota Corolla Hatchback: iM Just a Corolla Now," 23 Mar. 2018
See MoreThese example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'binnacle.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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Time Traveler for binnacle
The first known use of binnacle was in 1622
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