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lodestone

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lodestar

lodestar  

Reference type:
Overview Page
Subject:
History
A sailor's name for Polaris, or the Pole Star. The origin of the name presumably comes from the same old English source as lodeman and lodestone, to give a meaning as ‘guiding star’.
lodestone

lodestone   Quick reference

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

Reference type:
Subject Reference
Current Version:
2007
Subject:
History, Social sciences
Length:
115 words
the seaman's name for magnetic oxide of iron. It is said that the ancient Chinese discovered that, when freely suspended, it would point to the north, and therefore used it to form the ... More
lodestone

lodestone   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:
37 words
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 ... More
magnetic compass

magnetic compass  

Reference type:
Overview Page
Subject:
History
An instrument containing a freely suspended magnetic element that displays the direction of the horizontal component of the earth's magnetic field at the point of observation.

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