Word of the Day

Monday November 30, 2009

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cynosure [SY-nuh-shoor; SIN-uh-shoor]

noun

1. Anything that attracts attention and admiration; a center of attraction.
2. Something that serves to guide or direct, as Polaris guides mariners.

• Today, the presence of the photographer is celebrated. Obama is the cynosure of all lenses.
  "Philip Kennicott, "Obama, Through the Soft Lens of (Recent) History", The Washington Post, Apr 30, 2009
• Rubina Ali, Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail and Tanay Cheda were the cynosure of all eyes at the Oscars ceremony last week. Streep, mother of four in real life, simply smothered the children in genuine affection.
  "Meryl Streep, Brad Pitt floored by little 'Slumdog' stars", The Hindustan Times, Mar 2, 2009
• The affair proved the sensation of the hour, and "Miss Hazy's husband" was the cynosure of all eyes. For one brief week the honeymoon shed its beguiling light on the neighborhood, then it suffered a sudden and ignominious eclipse.
  Alice Hegan Rice (1870 - 1942) An American novelist. Lovey Mary (1903)

Origin of the Word

Cynosure, approximately 1596, derives from Middle French cynosure, from Latin Cynosura, from Greek kynosoura literally "dog's tail," the constellation Ursa Minor containing the North Star, from kuon, kun-, "dog" + oura, "tail."