"art or act of flying," 1866, from French aviation, noun of action from stem of Latin avis "bird" (from PIE root *awi- "bird"). Coined 1863 by French aviation pioneer Guillaume Joseph Gabriel de La Landelle (1812-1886) in "Aviation ou Navigation aérienne."
late 14c. (late 13c. as a surname), "a star that leads or serves to guide," an old name for the pole star as the star that "leads the way" in navigation; from lode (n.) "a way, a course, something to be followed" (a Middle English variant spelling of load (n.) that preserved the original Old English sense of that noun) + star (n.). Figurative use from late 14c. Compare lodestone. Similar formation in Old Norse leiðarstjarna, German Leitstern, Danish ledestjerne.
"sighting of land," 1620s, also "the first land 'made' on a sea voyage" (1883); from land (n.) + fall (v.) in the sense of "happen." A word from the days of imprecise nautical navigation.
Land-fall. The first land discovered after a sea voyage. Thus a good land fall implies the land expected or desired; a bad landfall the reverse. [John Hamilton Moore, "The New Practical Navigator," London, 1814]
Of hurricanes, by 1932.
"something that strongly attracts attention," 1590s, from French cynosure (16c.), from Latin Cynosura, literally "dog's tail," an old name of the constellation (now Ursa Minor) containing what is now (but was not in ancient times) the North Star, the focus of navigation, at the tip of its tail; from Greek kynosoura, literally "dog's tail," from kyōn (genitive kynos; from PIE root *kwon- "dog") + oura "tail" (see arse). Apparently in ancient times the whole constellation was used as a rough indicator of the celestial north pole. Related: Cynosural.
