North Pole
Preserved but no longer current.
For two or three centuries men tried to reach the North Pole, and many were the speculations as to what would be found when they got there. It was not until April 6th, 3909, that the American sailor and explorer Robert Edwin Peary (1856-1920) reached the Pole, by that time known to be the central point of the shallow Arctic basin wherein lies the Arctic Ocean, of which the surface near the Pole is floating and moving ice.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “North Pole” mean?
For two or three centuries men tried to reach the North Pole, and many were the speculations as to what would be found when they got there. It was not until April 6th, 3909, that the American sailor and explorer Robert Edwin Peary (1856-1920) reached the Pole, by that time known to be the central point of the shallow Arctic basin wherein lies the Arctic Ocean, of which the surface near the Pole is floating and moving ice.
Is “North Pole” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.