Pronounced: ad HOM-uh-nuhm (alt: ahd HOM-uh-nuhm), adj
Notes: I’ve run across this phrase, but I have misunderstood us
Yesterday’s word
The word lodestar means “someone or something that serves as a guiding principle, model, inspiration, ambition, etc.”
First usage
This word came into English in the later 1300s
Background / Comments
Our word comes from the Old English word lad (way) combined with star. A lodestar was first used because it was used in navigation — thus, showing the way. The other shades of meaning all came from the original meaning.
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day 