Magnetic

n. Any metal, as iron, nickel, cobalt, &c., which may receive, by any means, the properties of the loadstone, and which then, when suspended, fixes itself in the direction of a magnetic meridian. Dana.

a. [It. & Sp. magnetico, Fr. magnétique.]

1Sense 1. Pertaining to the magnet; possessing the properties of the magnet, or corresponding properties; as, a magnetic bar of iron, or a magnetic needle.

2Sense 2. Pertaining to the earth's magnetism; as, the magnetic north; the magnetic meridian; magnetic amplitude.

3Sense 3. Attractive.

She that had all magnetic force alone. Donne.

Magnetic amplitude. See AMPLITUDE, No. 5. — Magnetic or magnetical azimuth. See AZIMUTH. — Magnetic battery, a combination of bar or horse-shoe magnets with the like poles adjacent, so as to act together with great power. — Magnetic compensator, a contrivance connected with a ship's compass for compensating or neutralizing the effects upon the needle of the iron of the ship. — Magnetic curves, curves indicating lines of magnetic force, as in the arrangement of iron filings between the poles of a powerful magnet. — Magnetic dip. See DIP. — Magnetic equator, the line around the equatorial parts of the earth at which there is no dip, the dipping-needle being horizontal. — Magnetic meridian. See MERIDIAN. — Magnetic needle, a slender bar of steel, magnetized and suspended at its center on a sharp-pointed pivot, so that it may take freely the direction of the magnetic meridian. It constitutes the essential part of a compass, such as the mariner's and the surveyor's. — Magnetic poles, the two points in the opposite polar regions of the earth, at which the direction of the dipping-needle is vertical. — Magnetic pyrites. See PYRITES. — Magnetic telegraph, the electric telegraph. See TELEGRAPH. — Magnetic variation. See VARIATION.