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lodestone (LOHD-stohn) - n., a naturally magnetized piece of the mineral magnetite; something that attracts strongly.
Called magnetite because it can be magnetized, natch -- it being an important iron ore. Pieces of lodestone suspended so they could turn freely were the first compasses. Dates to the early 1500s, using the now obsolete lode, way/journey/course (from Old English lād, same meaning) + stone (from Old English stān, same meaning) -- so waystone, or more fancifully, guidestone. (The mineralogical sense of lode as in a vein of a mineral is from the same sense, as if followed it leads to the mother lode, the source of the veins.)
---L.
Called magnetite because it can be magnetized, natch -- it being an important iron ore. Pieces of lodestone suspended so they could turn freely were the first compasses. Dates to the early 1500s, using the now obsolete lode, way/journey/course (from Old English lād, same meaning) + stone (from Old English stān, same meaning) -- so waystone, or more fancifully, guidestone. (The mineralogical sense of lode as in a vein of a mineral is from the same sense, as if followed it leads to the mother lode, the source of the veins.)
---L.
