pole star
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English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/10/Integrated_Flux_Nebula_Surrounding_Polaris_-_Kush_Chandaria.jpg/220px-Integrated_Flux_Nebula_Surrounding_Polaris_-_Kush_Chandaria.jpg)
From pole (“either of the two points on the Earth’s surface around which it rotates; similar points on any other rotating object”) + star,[1] possibly a calque of Latin stēllam polārem (“the Pole Star”).
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈpəʊl stɑː/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈpoʊl ˌstɑɹ/
Noun
[edit]pole star (plural pole stars)
- (astronomy) The star visible to the naked eye which was in the past, is now, or will be in the future nearest a celestial pole of a planet.
- Synonyms: polar star, (obsolete) pole arctic
- Polaris is currently the pole star of planet Earth.
- 1837 August 31, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The American Scholar. An Oration Delivered before the Phi Beta Kappa Society, at Cambridge, August 31, 1837.”, in J[ames] E[lliot] Cabot, editor, Nature, Addresses, and Lectures (Emerson’s Complete Works; I), Riverside edition, London: The Waverley Book Company, published 1883, →OCLC, page 84:
- Who can doubt that poetry will revive and lead in a new age, as the star in the constellation Harp, which now flames in our zenith, astronomers announce, shall one day be the pole-star for a thousand years?
- (figuratively) A person, principle, or thing which acts as a guide; a guiding light; also, something which attracts much attention; a centre of attention.
- Synonyms: cynosure, guide star, guiding star, lodestar
- 1817, S[amuel] T[aylor] Coleridge, “[Satyrane’s Letters.] Letter II. (To a Lady.)”, in Biographia Literaria; or Biographical Sketches of My Literary Life and Opinions, volume II, London: Rest Fenner, […], →OCLC, pages 214–215:
- But it [our hotel] has one great advantage for a stranger, by being in the market place, and the next neighbour of the huge church of St. Nicholas: […] A better pole-star could scarcely be desired.
- 1889 June–November, Hall Caine, “Strong Knots of Love”, in The Bondman. A New Saga. […], volume II (The Book of Michael Sunlocks), London: William Heinemann, published January 1890, →OCLC, page 118:
- Love was her pole-star. What was Jason's? Only the blankness of despair.
Usage notes
[edit]Regarding sense 1, due to the precession of the equinoxes, Earth’s northern pole star—which is currently Polaris—was a different star in the past and will be a different star in the future.[1] There is presently no southern pole star.
Alternative forms
[edit]Related terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]star visible to the naked eye which was, is, or will be nearest a celestial pole of a planet
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person, principle, or thing which acts as a guide — see also guiding light
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something which attracts much attention — see centre of attention
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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References
[edit]- ↑ 1.0 1.1 “Pole Star, n.”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2023; “Pole Star, proper n. and n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
Further reading
[edit]pole star on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
- “pole star, n.”, in Collins English Dictionary.
- “pole star, n.”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present, reproduced from Stuart Berg Flexner, editor in chief, Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2nd edition, New York, N.Y.: Random House, 1993, →ISBN.
- “pole star, n.”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
Anagrams
[edit]Categories:
- English endocentric compounds
- English compound terms
- English terms calqued from Latin
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English multiword terms
- en:Stars
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- English compound nouns