Saturday, March 22, 2008

Word of the Day

I've decided to educate all of your palates, and do a word of the day, or rather, a word of whenever I remember. I will use Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase & Fable, sixteenth edition, revised by Adrian Room. The selections will be random, but interesting, nonetheless.
For today: Limelight

Limelight. A vivid light, giving off little heat, produced by the combustion of oxygen and hydrogen on the surface of a lime. It was tried at the South Foreland lighthouse in 1861, but its main use developed in the theatre, where it was used to throw a powerful beam on one player on the stage to the exclusion of others. Hence the phrase 'to be in the limelight', to be in the full glare of public attention.

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