lodestone

or load·stone

[ lohd-stohn ]

/ ˈloʊdˌstoʊn /

noun

a variety of magnetite that possesses magnetic polarity and attracts iron.

a piece of this serving as a magnet.

something that attracts strongly.

Nearby words

locutory, lod, lode, loden, lodestar, lodestone, lodge, lodged, lodgepole creek, lodgepole pine, lodger

Origin of lodestone

1505–15; lode (in obsolete sense “way, course”) + stone

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for lodestone

Beale Street drew them, it has been said, “like a lodestone.”
Stanley Booth on the Life and Hard Times of Blues Genius Furry Lewis|Stanley Booth|June 7, 2014|DAILY BEAST
It was my lodestone, my centering point, my story as a journalist covering Germany and the East Bloc.
Scaling the Berlin Wall|Michael R. Meyer|October 31, 2009|DAILY BEAST
But these details were only secondary matters—his face was the lodestone that chained the eye.
Roughing It|Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)
Beyond a peradventure Frances was the lodestone that attracted him.
A Top-Floor Idyl|George van Schaick

The Swedish block of lodestone before the mineralogical museum gives me a greeting from my native land.
The Inferno|August Strindberg
Davies calls Elizabeth "lodestone to all hearts and lodestar to all eyes."
A Select Collection of Old English Plays; Originally Published by Robert Dodsley in the Year 1744; Fourth Edition|Various
At this time the magnet received the name of lodestone or leading stone.
Hawkins Electrical Guide, Number One|Nehemiah Hawkins

British Dictionary definitions for lodestone

lodestone

loadstone

/ (ˈləʊdˌstəʊn) /

noun

a rock that consists of pure or nearly pure magnetite and thus is naturally magnetic
a piece of such rock, which can be used as a magnet and which was formerly used as a primitive compass

a person or thing regarded as a focus of attraction

Word Origin for lodestone

C16: literally: guiding stone

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Science definitions for lodestone

lodestone

A piece of the mineral magnetite that acts like a magnet.