Word of the Day for Sunday, August 19, 2012

lodestar \LOHD-stahr\, noun:
1. Something that serves as a guide or on which the attention is fixed.
2. A star that shows the way.
3. Polaris.

Hilola Bigtree was the lodestar that pulled our visored, sweaty visitors across the water. -- Karen Russell, "Swamplandia"

It boasts a transportation system second to none amongst the great cities of the world, and it is, most significantly, the lodestar of Japanese culture in modern times.
-- Lawrence William Rogers, "Tokyo Stories"

Lodestar comes from the Old English word lode which meant "way, course." The word has been used in navigation since the 1400s.

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