Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A focus of public attention.
- noun An early type of stage light in which lime was heated to incandescence producing brilliant illumination.
- noun The brilliant white light so produced.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Same as
calcium light (which see, undercalcium ).
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Theat.) That part of the stage upon which the limelight is cast, usually where the most important action is progressing or where the leading player or players are placed and upon which the attention of the spectators is therefore concentrated.
- An intense light produced by heating lime. See Calcium light under
calcium .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A type of
stage lighting once used intheatres andmusic halls , producing abright light by the use ofincandescent quicklime . - noun by extension
Attention ,notice , astarring orcentral role , presentfame .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a lamp consisting of a flame directed at a cylinder of lime with a lens to concentrate the light; formerly used for stage lighting
- noun a focus of public attention
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The plan that has been labeled "socialist" ever since Joe the Plumber stepped into the limelight is the inevitable consequence when the federal government has spent itself into the ground.
Did Flyfishing Influence Your Vote? Tim Romano 2008
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Well he is trying to steal the environmental limelight from the Copenhagen conference in announcing his £20bn initiative to basically get people back to work and off the doll, oh but it is environmentally friendly too.
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Hillary's idea, not approved by the President, in order to reccuperate limelight from the opaque secretary of state performance of Hillary.
Kim Jong Il pardons and orders release of 2 U.S. journalists 2009
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I still remember the reaction from many of my liberal confederates who thought she would slip from view once the limelight from the campaign dimmed, but it was clear to me that she had found a foothold and a table at which she could roll her dice.
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Well he is trying to steal the environmental limelight from the Copenhagen conference in announcing his £20bn initiative to basically get people back to work and off the doll, oh but it is environmentally friendly too.
Summit is not right with this Copenhagen Summit « My Liberal Democrat Political Ramblings… 2009
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But even the Macedonian can't steal the limelight from the Greek striker Gekas, who has embarked on one of his demented goal-runs again.
Eintracht Frankfurt's cold-blooded killer makes light work of latest prey Raphael Honigstein 2010
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Q: When a writer continues a well-loved series with the next generation, the strong, compelling ‘old’ characters can steal the limelight from the new ones.
Writer Unboxed » Blog Archive » INTERVIEW: Jacqueline Carey, Part 1 2007
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One seeking to grab the limelight is Markos Kyprianou, the EU health commissioner who has told the Financial Times that "Europe's" public healthcare systems must brace for radical change as barriers to patients crossing borders to seek treatment drop.
Why don't they just go away? Richard 2006
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Yes, he's set to make a film about the religion that everyone in the limelight is shouting about, and if the source material is anything to go by then this just might be something more than a fad exploiting movie.
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There's no way in the world you can take away the limelight from a great player like that.
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