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lodestar

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lodestar

lodestar   Quick reference

The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea (2 ed.)

Reference type:
Subject Reference
Current Version:
2007
Subject:
History, Social sciences
Length:
34 words

a sailor's name for Polaris, or the Pole Star. The origin of the name presumably comes from the same old English source as ...

lodestar

lodestar   Quick reference

The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (2 ed.)

Reference type:
Subject Reference
Current Version:
2006
Subject:
Language reference, History of English, Literature, Literary theory and cultural studies
Length:
53 words
a star that is used to guide the course of a ship, especially the pole star. The word is recorded from Middle English, and the first element means ‘way, course’. The figurative use ... More
lodestone

lodestone  

Reference type:
Overview Page
Subject:
History
A piece of magnetite or other naturally magnetized mineral, able to be used as a magnet. Recorded from the early 16th century, the word means literally ‘way-stone’, from the use of the magnet in ...

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