magnetic needle
a slender magnetized steel rod that, when adjusted to swing in a horizontal plane, as in a compass, indicates the direction of the earth's magnetic fields or the approximate position of north and south.
Origin of magnetic needle
1Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use magnetic needle in a sentence
Seeing how the master-mariner honours the magnetic needle, every thoughtful passenger will probably consult it in like manner.
Ancient Faiths And Modern | Thomas InmanUnder these conditions it is obvious that the magnetic needle is quite useless for steering purposes.
The Home of the Blizzard | Douglas MawsonThe former is called the variation, and the latter the dipping of the magnetic needle.
In the present instance the line of force appears to coincide with the direction of the magnetic needle.
Letters from the Alleghany Mountains | Charles LanmanThis deflection of the magnetic needle is due to the fact that surrounding every electric current are magnetic lines of force.
Physics | Willis Eugene Tower
British Dictionary definitions for magnetic needle
a slender magnetized rod used in certain instruments, such as the magnetic compass, for indicating the direction of a magnetic field
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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