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lodestone

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Medical, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.04 sec.
lodestone: see magnetite magnetite (măg`nətīt), lustrous black, magnetic mineral, Fe3O4.
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magnetite

 or lodestone or magnetic iron ore

Iron oxide mineral (Fe3O4), the chief member of one of the series of the spinel group. Minerals in this series form black to brownish, metallic, moderately hard octahedrons and masses in igneous and metamorphic rocks and in granite pegmatites, stony meteorites, and high-temperature sulfide veins. Magnetite, as the name implies, is strongly attracted to a magnet. It is a common constituent of iron ores. Magnetite with an intrinsic magnetic field (a natural magnet) is known as lodestone.


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


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As I gazed at it on that far-gone night it seemed to call across the unthinkable void, to lure me to it, to draw me as the lodestone attracts a particle of iron.
He made accurate examination of it by the aid of some instruments, and came to the conclusion that it was carved from a lump of lodestone.
But the most gratifying thing of all was, that chance strangers, passing through, who had not heard of my picture, were not only drawn to it, as by a lodestone, the moment they entered the gallery, but always took it for a "Turner.
 
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