[mag-nit] 
| 1. | a body, as a piece of iron or steel, that possesses the property of attracting certain substances, as iron. |
| 2. | a lodestone. |
| 3. | a thing or person that attracts: The park was a magnet for pickpockets and muggers. |
| var. of magneto- before some vowels: magneton. |
| a combining form representing magnetic or magnetism in compound words: magnetochemistry. |
| mag·net (māg'nĭt) n.
[Middle English, from Old French magnete, from Latin magnēs, magnēt-, from Greek Magnēs (lithos), Magnesian (stone), magnet, from Magnēsiā, Magnesia, an ancient city of Asia Minor.] |
An object that attracts iron and some other materials. Magnets are said to generate a magnetic field around themselves. Every magnet has two poles, called the north and south poles. Magnetic poles exert forces on each other in such a way that like poles repel and unlike poles attract each other. A compass is a small magnet that is affected by the magnetic field of the Earth in such a way that it points to a magnetic pole of the Earth. (See magnetic field and magnetism.)