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Entry 7 senses · 2 variants Webster, 1913

Magnetic

/măg-nĕt'-ĭk/ · Mag·net·ic · IPA /mæɡˈnɛt.ɪk/
01 a. Pertaining to the magnet; possessing the properties of the magnet, or corresponding properties; as, a magnetic bar of iron; a magnetic needle.
  1. 1.
    Pertaining to the magnet; possessing the properties of the magnet, or corresponding properties; as, a magnetic bar of iron; a magnetic needle.
  2. 2.
    Of or pertaining to, or characterized by, the earth's magnetism; as, the magnetic north; the magnetic meridian.
  3. 3.
    Capable of becoming a magnet; susceptible to magnetism; as, the magnetic metals.
  4. 4.
    Endowed with extraordinary personal power to excite the feelings and to win the affections; attractive; inducing attachment.
    “She that had all magnetic force alone.” — Donne.
  5. 5.
    Having, susceptible to, or induced by, animal magnetism, so called; as, a magnetic sleep. See Magnetism.[Archaic] See: Magnetism
Phrases & compounds
Magnetic amplitude, attraction, dip, induction, — See under Amplitude, Attraction, etc.
Magnetic battery — a combination of bar or horseshoe 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 effect of the iron of the ship upon the needle.
Magnetic curves — curves indicating lines of magnetic force, as in the arrangement of iron filings between the poles of a powerful magnet.
Magnetic elements — Those elements, as iron, nickel, cobalt, chromium, manganese, etc., which are capable or becoming magnetic.
Magnetic equator — the line around the equatorial parts of the earth at which there is no magnetic dip, the dipping needle being horizontal; -- called also aclinic line.
Magnetic fluid — the hypothetical fluid whose existence was formerly assumed in the explanations of the phenomena of magnetism.
Magnetic iron — Same as Magnetite.
Magnetic needle — a slender bar of steel, magnetized and suspended at its center on a sharp-pointed pivot, or by a delicate fiber, 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 Pyrrhotite.
Magnetic storm — a disturbance of the earth's magnetic force characterized by great and sudden changes.
Magnetic telegraph — a telegraph acting by means of a magnet. See Telegraph.
02 n. A magnet.
  1. 1.
    A magnet.[Obs.]
    “As the magnetic hardest iron draws.” — Milton.
  2. 2.
    Any metal, as iron, nickel, cobalt, etc., 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.