Attraction

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Magnetic \Mag*net"ic\, Magnetical \Mag*net"ic*al\, a. [L.
     magneticus: cf. F. magn['e]tique.]
     1. Pertaining to the magnet; possessing the properties of the
        magnet, or corresponding properties; as, a magnetic bar of
        iron; a magnetic needle.
        [1913 Webster]


  
     2. Of or pertaining to, or characterized by, the earth's
        magnetism; as, the magnetic north; the magnetic meridian.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Capable of becoming a magnet; susceptible to magnetism;
        as, the magnetic metals.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. Endowed with extraordinary personal power to excite the
        feelings and to win the affections; attractive; inducing
        attachment.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              She that had all magnetic force alone. --Donne.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     5. Having, susceptible to, or induced by, animal magnetism,
        so called; hypnotic; as, a magnetic sleep. See
        {Magnetism}. [Archaic]
        [1913 Webster +PJC]
  
     {Magnetic amplitude}, {attraction}, {dip}, {induction}, etc.
        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}.
        (a) (Chem. Physics) Those elements, as iron, nickel,
            cobalt, chromium, manganese, etc., which are capable
            or becoming magnetic.
        (b) (Physics) In respect to terrestrial magnetism, the
            declination, inclination, and intensity.
        (c) See under {Element}.
  
     {Magnetic fluid}, the hypothetical fluid whose existence was
        formerly assumed in the explanations of the phenomena of
        magnetism; -- no longer considered a meaningful concept.
        
  
     {Magnetic iron}, or {Magnetic iron ore}. (Min.) 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} (Terrestrial Physics), a disturbance of the
        earth's magnetic force characterized by great and sudden
        changes.
  
     {magnetic tape} (Electronics), a ribbon of plastic material
        to which is affixed a thin layer of powder of a material
        which can be magnetized, such as ferrite. Such tapes are
        used in various electronic devices to record fluctuating
        voltages, which can be used to represent sounds, images,
        or binary data. Devices such as audio casette recorders,
        videocasette recorders, and computer data storage devices
        use magnetic tape as an inexpensive medium to store data.
        Different magnetically susceptible materials are used in
        such tapes.
  
     {Magnetic telegraph}, a telegraph acting by means of a
        magnet. See {Telegraph}.
        [1913 Webster + PJC]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Attraction \At*trac"tion\, n. [L. attractio: cf. F. attraction.]
     1. (Physics) An invisible power in a body by which it draws
        anything to itself; the power in nature acting mutually
        between bodies or ultimate particles, tending to draw them
        together, or to produce their cohesion or combination, and
        conversely resisting separation.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: Attraction is exerted at both sensible and insensible
           distances, and is variously denominated according to
           its qualities or phenomena. Under attraction at
           sensible distances, there are, -- (1.)
  
     {Attraction of gravitation}, which acts at all distances
        throughout the universe, with a force proportional
        directly to the product of the masses of the bodies and
        inversely to the square of their distances apart. (2.)
  
     {Magnetic}, {diamagnetic}, and {electrical attraction}, each
        of which is limited in its sensible range and is polar in
        its action, a property dependent on the quality or
        condition of matter, and not on its quantity. Under
        attraction at insensible distances, there are, -- (1.)
  
     {Adhesive attraction}, attraction between surfaces of
        sensible extent, or by the medium of an intervening
        substance. (2.)
  
     {Cohesive attraction}, attraction between ultimate particles,
        whether like or unlike, and causing simply an aggregation
        or a union of those particles, as in the absorption of
        gases by charcoal, or of oxygen by spongy platinum, or the
        process of solidification or crystallization. The power in
        adhesive attraction is strictly the same as that of
        cohesion. (3.)
  
     {Capillary attraction}, attraction causing a liquid to rise,
        in capillary tubes or interstices, above its level
        outside, as in very small glass tubes, or a sponge, or any
        porous substance, when one end is inserted in the liquid.
        It is a special case of cohesive attraction. (4.)
  
     {Chemical attraction}, or
  
     {affinity}, that peculiar force which causes elementary
        atoms, or groups of atoms, to unite to form molecules.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. The act or property of attracting; the effect of the power
        or operation of attraction. --Newton.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. The power or act of alluring, drawing to, inviting, or
        engaging; an attractive quality; as, the attraction of
        beauty or eloquence.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. That which attracts; an attractive object or feature.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Syn: Allurement; enticement; charm.
          [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  attraction
       n 1: the force by which one object attracts another [syn: {attractive
            force}] [ant: {repulsion}]
       2: an entertainment that is offered to the public
       3: the quality of arousing interest; being attractive or
          something that attracts; "her personality held a strange
          attraction for him" [syn: {attractiveness}]
       4: a characteristic that provides pleasure and attracts;
          "flowers are an attractor for bees" [syn: {attractor}, {attracter},
           {attractive feature}, {magnet}]
       5: an entertainer who attracts large audiences; "he was the
          biggest drawing card they had" [syn: {drawing card}, {draw},
           {attractor}, {attracter}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  129 Moby Thesaurus words for "attraction":
     Circean, acceptability, accord, affinity, agacerie, agreeability,
     agreeable, allure, allurement, alluring, appeal, appealing,
     attractant, attracting, attractive, attractiveness, bait,
     beauteous, beautiful, beckoning, beguilement, beguiling,
     bewitchery, bewitching, bewitchment, blandishment, bonny, cajolery,
     call, captivating, captivation, charisma, charm, charming,
     charmingness, come-hither, come-on, comely, concord, delight,
     desirability, draft, draw, drawing, drawing power, drayage,
     enchanting, enchantment, engaging, entertainment, enthrallment,
     enticement, enticing, entrapment, extraction, fair, fascinating,
     fascination, fetching, flirtation, forbidden fruit, glamorous,
     glamour, good-looking, goodly, gravitation, handsome, harmony,
     haulage, hauling, heaving, hook, inducement, interest, interesting,
     inveiglement, invitation, inviting, likability, likable, likely,
     lovability, lovely, lure, magnetic, magnetism, mesmeric,
     performance, pleasing, pleasure, prepossessing, presentation,
     pretty, provocative, provocativeness, pulchritudinous, pull,
     pulling, pulling power, seducement, seduction, seductive,
     seductiveness, sex appeal, show, sightly, simpatico, siren, snare,
     snaring, sympathy, taking, tantalization, tantalizing, teasing,
     temptation, tempting, towage, towing, traction, tractive power,
     tug-of-war, tugging, unobjectionableness, winning, winning ways,
     winsomeness, witchery, wooing