# pole star
## English
### Etymology

From pole (“either of the two points on the Earth’s surface around which it rotates; similar points on any other rotating object”) +‎ star, possibly a calque of Latin stēllam polārem (“the Pole Star”).

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈpəʊl stɑː/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)
* (General American) IPA: /ˈpoʊl ˌstɑɹ/

### Noun

pole star (plural pole stars)
* (astronomy) The star visible to the naked eye which was in the past, is now, or will be in the future nearest a celestial pole of a planet.
    Synonyms: polar star, (obsolete) pole arctic
    Polaris is currently the pole star of planet Earth.
** 1837 August 31, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The American Scholar. An Oration Delivered before the Phi Beta Kappa Society, at Cambridge, August 31, 1837.”, in J[ames] E[lliot] Cabot, editor, Nature, Addresses, and Lectures (Emerson’s Complete Works; I), Riverside edition, London: The Waverley Book Company, published 1883, →OCLC, page 84:Who can doubt that poetry will revive and lead in a new age, as the star in the constellation Harp, which now flames in our zenith, astronomers announce, shall one day be the pole-star for a thousand years?
* (figuratively) A person, principle, or thing which acts as a guide; a guiding light; also, something which attracts much attention; a centre of attention.
    Synonyms: cynosure, guide star, guiding star, lodestar
** 1817, S[amuel] T[aylor] Coleridge, “[Satyrane’s Letters.] Letter II. (To a Lady.)”, in Biographia Literaria; or Biographical Sketches of My Literary Life and Opinions, volume II, London: Rest Fenner, […], →OCLC, pages 214–215:But it [our hotel] has one great advantage for a stranger, by being in the market place, and the next neighbour of the huge church of St. Nicholas: […] A better pole-star could scarcely be desired.
** 1889 June–November, Hall Caine, “Strong Knots of Love”, in The Bondman. A New Saga. […], volume II (The Book of Michael Sunlocks), London: William Heinemann, published January 1890, →OCLC, page 118:Love was her pole-star. What was Jason's? Only the blankness of despair.

#### Usage notes

* Regarding sense 1, due to the precession of the equinoxes, Earth’s northern pole star—which is currently Polaris—was a different star in the past and will be a different star in the future. There is presently no southern pole star.

#### Alternative forms

* polestar, pole-star

#### Related terms

* lodestar, north star, North Star

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### References

* 1 2 “Pole Star, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2023; “Pole Star, proper n. and n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

### Further reading

* pole star on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
* “pole star, n.”, in Collins English Dictionary.
* “pole star, n.”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present, reproduced from Stuart Berg Flexner, editor in chief, Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2nd edition, New York, N.Y.: Random House, 1993, →ISBN.
* “pole star, n.”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

### Anagrams

* prolates, Portelas, portsale, Palestro, Plateros, Portales, Laportes, petrosal, patroles, LaPortes