navigate

• POS: Verb (usu participle), Verb (intransitive), Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: nav=i=gate

CIDE DICTIONARY

navigate, v. i. [L. navigatus, p. p. of navigare, v.t. & i.; navis ship + agere to move, direct. See Nave, and Agent.].

•  To journey by water; to go in a vessel or ship; to perform the duties of a navigator; to use the waters as a highway or channel for commerce or communication; to sail.  [1913 Webster]

  "The Phenicians navigated to the extremities of the Western Ocean."  [1913 Webster]
•  To direct or operate a vehicle, especially a ship or aircraft.  [PJC]
•  To pass through, over, or around; -- used especially of a course having obstacles; as, to navigate around all the randomly scattered tables to the far side of the room.  [PJC]

navigate, v. t. 

•  To pass over in ships; to sail over or on; as, to navigate the Atlantic.  [1913 Webster]
•  To steer, direct, or manage in sailing; to conduct (ships) upon the water by the art or skill of seamen; as, to navigate a ship.  [1913 Webster]
•  To pass through, over, or around; -- used especially of a course having obstacles; as, to navigate all the randomly scattered tables to the far side of the room.  [PJC]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

navigate, v.
1 tr. manage or direct the course of (a ship, aircraft, etc.).
2 tr. a sail on (a sea, river, etc.). b travel or fly through (the air).
3 intr. (of a passenger in a vehicle) assist the driver by map-reading etc.
4 intr. sail a ship; sail in a ship.
5 tr. (often refl.) colloq. steer (oneself, a course, etc.) through a crowd etc.

Etymology

L navigare f. navis ship + agere drive

THESAURUS

navigate

aeroplane, airlift, airplane, allocate, assign, balloon, be airborne, boat, canoe, captain, carry sail, chart a course, circumnavigate, coast, collocate, con, cond, conn, coxswain, cross, cruise, deploy, direct, dispose, drift, emplace, ferry, fix, flit, fly, get a fix, glide, go by ship, go on shipboard, go to sea, guide, handle, have the conn, helm, home in on, hop, hover, hydroplane, install, jet, journey, localize, locate, make a passage, manage, motorboat, operate, pilot, pin down, pinpoint, place, ply, position, put in place, row, run, sail, sail round, sail the sea, sailplane, scull, seafare, seaplane, shape a course, situate, skipper, soar, spot, steam, steamboat, steer, take a voyage, take the air, take wing, traverse, triangulate, volplane, voyage, wing, yacht, zero in on

ROGET THESAURUS

navigate

Navigation

VB sail, put to sea, take ship, get under way, set sail, spread sail, spread canvas, gather way, have way on, make sail, carry sail, plow the waves, plow the deep, plow the main, plow the ocean, walk the waters, navigate, warp, luff, scud, boom, kedge, drift, course, cruise, coast, hug the shore, hug the land, circumnavigate, ply the oar, row, paddle, pull, scull, punt, steam, swim, float, buffet the waves, ride the storm, skim, effleurer, dive, wade, fly, be wafted, hover, soar, flutter, jet, orbit, rocket, take wing, take a flight, take off, ascend, blast off, land, alight, wing one's flight, wing one's way, aviate, parachute, jump, glide.