Jump to:

• Pole Star
  Pole Star

  noun

  the star closest to the N celestial pole at any particular time. At present this is Polaris, but it will eventually be replaced by some other star owing to precession of the earth's axis
• pole star
  pole star

  noun

  a guiding principle, rule, standard, etc

Pole Star

¹ British  

noun

1. the star closest to the N celestial pole at any particular time. At present this is Polaris, but it will eventually be replaced by some other star owing to precession of the earth's axis

---

pole star ² British  

noun

1. a guiding principle, rule, standard, etc

---

Example Sentences

Working through that backlog would take weeks even after the waterway is safe to pass, said Saleem Khan, chief data and analytics officer at maritime-intelligence firm Pole Star Global.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 17, 2026

The name Polaris is taken from the Pole Star, used for navigation by slaves escaping northwards in the US in the 19th Century.

From BBC • Feb. 12, 2019

This week the Finsler comet is almost opposite the Pole Star in its path across the northern sky toward the Big Dipper.

From Time Magazine Archive

The great bulk of the Pole Star was coming for them.

From "Ship Breaker" by Paolo Bacigalupi

Alternatively, at night, you could measure latitude directly by measuring the angle between the horizon and the Pole Star.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton