1. An object that is surrounded by a magnetic field and that has the property, either natural or induced, of attracting iron or steel.
2. An object made of iron oxide or steel which attracts iron and has polarity.
3. An electromagnet.
4. A person, a place, an object, or a situation that exerts strong attraction.

A peculiar stone from the neighborhood of the town of Magnesia, in Thessaly, Greece, which had the power of attracting small pieces of iron

The ancients, including Homer and Plato, knew about the "magnet" or the stone which they called magnes, from the name of the town, or more frequently, lithos Magnetis, "stone of Magnesia" from which we inherited the word "magnet".

It had two specific applications: to ore with magnetic properties, and to stone with a metallic sheen. It was the first of these that has come down to English via Latin magneta.

English magnesia came from the same source, but it is not clear how it came to be applied (in the 18th century) to "magnesium oxide" because it originally referred to a "constituent of the philosopher's stone; in the vague terminology of the alchemists.

In the 17th century, it was used for "manganese" which came via French from Italian manganese, an alteration of medieval Latin magnesia.

When the term magnesium was introduced at the suggestion of the chemist Sir Humphry Davy, it also denoted "manganese" in the beginning.

There is no evidence that the Greeks put the peculiar characteristics of the stone to any use; in fact, the first European record of any applications of the properties of the magnet is not found before the end of the twelfth century A.D.

The first European mention of a magnetized needle and its use among sailors occurs in Alexander Neckam's De naturis rerum (On the Natures of Things), probably written in Paris in 1190.

Through the use of the compass, this "stone of Magnesia" or magnes came to be known as a lodestone because, like the lodestar, it pointed the way (from the Middle English word lode, "way").

William Gilbert, in 1600, was the first to produce a scientific study of magnetism.

A magnet which is manufactured with a rare-earth element; such as,a rare=earth cobalt magnet.

It can have as much as ten times more coercive force than a typical magnet.