cynosure

See also: Cynosure

English

WOTD – 16 March 2010, 16 March 2011

Etymology

From Middle French Cynosure (“Ursa Minor; Polaris”), from Latin Cynosūra (“Ursa Minor”), from Ancient Greek Κυνόσουρα (Kunósoura, “Ursa Minor”, literally “dog’s tail”), from κυνός (kunós, “dog's”) + οὐρά (ourá, “tail”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪnəzjʊə/, /-sjʊə/, /-ʃʊə/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsaɪnəʃʊɹ/, /ˈsɪn-/, /-ʃɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

cynosure (plural cynosures)

1. Alternative letter-case form of Cynosure: Ursa Minor or Polaris, the North Star, used as a guide by navigators.
2. (figuratively) That which serves to guide or direct; a guiding star.

   let faith be your cynosure to walk by

3. (figuratively) Something that is the center of attention; an object that serves as a focal point of attraction and admiration.
   • 1645, John Milton, L'Allegro‎^[1]:

     Towers, and battlements it sees
     Bosom'd high in tufted trees,
     Where perhaps some beauty lies,
     The cynosure of neighbouring eyes.

   • 1837, Thomas Carlyle, “Astræa Redux”, in The French Revolution: A History […], volume I (The Bastille), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, book II (The Paper Age):

     Meanwhile the fair young Queen, in her halls of state, walks like a goddess of Beauty, the cynosure of all eyes; as yet mingles not with affairs; heeds not the future; least of all, dreads it.

   • 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 306:

     With anglophobia driving out anglophilia, the king – as during the Seven Years War – came to represent the very cynosure of patriotic zeal.

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:cynosure.

Derived terms

• cynosural

Translations

Ursa Minor — see Ursa Minor

North Star — see North Star

that which serves to guide or direct

• Finnish: johtotähti
• French: tramontane (fr), guide (fr), mentor (fr), chien d'aveugle (fr) (figuratively), parangon (fr)
• German: Leitstern (de) m
• Italian: tramontana (it), guida (it)
• Russian: путево́дная звезда́ f (putevódnaja zvezdá)
• Spanish: tramontana (es), guia (es), lazarillo (es) m (figuratively)

something that is the center of attention; an object that serves as a focal point of attraction and admiration

• Finnish: huomion keskipiste
• French: point de mire (fr), cible (fr), foyer (fr)
• German: Anziehungspunkt (de) m, Blickfang m, Fokus (de) m
• Romanian: țintă (ro) f
• Russian: центр внима́ния m (centr vnimánija), средото́чие внима́ния n (sredotóčije vnimánija)
• Spanish: blanco de las miradas, foco (es)

Further reading

• Cynosure in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Anagrams

• rounceys