Princeton's WordNet

1. magnet(noun)

   (physics) a device that attracts iron and produces a magnetic field

2. attraction, attractor, attracter, attractive feature, magnet(noun)

   a characteristic that provides pleasure and attracts

   "flowers are an attractor for bees"

Kernerman English Learner's Dictionary

1. magnet(noun)ˈmæg nɪt

   a metal object that attracts other metal objects containing iron to it

   The box fastens using magnets.

2. magnetˈmæg nɪt

   sb or sth that attracts people of a particular type

   a blog that is a magnet for liberal political thinkers; He's a real girl magnet.

Wiktionary

1. magnet(Noun)

   A piece of material that attracts some metals by magnetism.

2. magnet(Noun)

   A person or thing that attracts what is denoted by the preceding noun.

   He always had a girl on his arm - he's a bit of a babe-magnet.

Origin: From the Greek μαγνήτης λίθος (magnítis líthos), magnesian stone.

Webster Dictionary

1. Magnet(noun)

   the loadstone; a species of iron ore (the ferrosoferric or magnetic ore, Fe3O4) which has the property of attracting iron and some of its ores, and, when freely suspended, of pointing to the poles; -- called also natural magnet

2. Magnet(noun)

   a bar or mass of steel or iron to which the peculiar properties of the loadstone have been imparted; -- called, in distinction from the loadstone, an artificial magnet

The Nuttall Encyclopedia

1. Magnet

   the name given to loadstone as first discovered in Magnesia, a town in Asia Minor; also to a piece of iron, nickel, or cobalt having similar properties, notably the power of setting itself in a definite direction; also a coil of wire carrying an electric current, because such a coil really possesses the properties characteristic of an iron magnet.

The Standard Electrical Dictionary

1. Magnet

   A body which tends when suspended by its centre of gravity to lay itself in a definite direction, and to place a definite line within it, its magnetic axis, q. v., in a definite direction, which, roughly speaking, lies north and south. The same bodies have the power of attracting iron (Daniell), also nickel and cobalt. Magnets are substances which possess the power of attracting iron. (Ganot.) [Transcriber's note: Edward Purcell and others have explained magnetic and electromagnetic phenomenon as relativistic effects related to electrostatic attraction. Magnetism is caused by Lorentz contraction of space along the direction of a current. Electromagnetic waves are caused by charge acceleration and the resulting disturbance of the electrostatic field. (Electricity and Magnetism: Berkeley Physics Course Volume 2, 1960)]

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