Historical reference: Do not rely on this information. It is very old. About this collection
Course. In navigation, the point of the compass on which a ship should be kept steering, or the angle which a ship's track makes with the meridian. The principal sails, i.e. the mainsail, foresail, mizzen, and sometimes also the mizzen-staysail, fore-staysail, and (in brigs and schooners) the main-staysails of a ship are usually distinguished as "courses."