| 释义 |
▪ I. limelight, n.|ˈlaɪmlaɪt|
[f. lime n.1]
1. The intense white light produced by heating a piece of lime in an oxyhydrogen flame. Called also Drummond light. Formerly much used in theatres to light up important actors and scenes, and so direct attention to them. Hence freq. fig.
1826Drummond in Phil. Trans. CXVI. 336 Applied to a revolving light, where four sides are illuminated, each with four reflectors, one reflector, with the lime light, might be substituted on each side. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. vi. 46 The naked eye can detect no difference in brightness between the electric light and the lime light. 1877G. B. Smith Shelley i. 45 Transcendent as were his virtues when compared with his faults, the lime-light of a malevolent scrutiny has been turned on the latter. 1881P. Fitzgerald World behind Scenes i. 48 The use of so intense a light as the limelight has favoured the introduction of a new effect in the shape of transparent scenery. 1882F. Harrison Choice Bks. (1886) 433 When Shakespeare played Hamlet and Macbeth, he had neither limelight, footlights, scenery, costumes, nor stage machinery. 1908Daily Chron. 25 Jan. 3/2 The beauty of his person..helped to throw the limelight upon him. 1922Blackw. Mag. Aug. 150/1 He did not..pose in the limelight to the same extent as his respected chief. 1934A. Huxley Let. 1 Oct. (1969) 384 The town hardly gets its full share of the limelight because of the hero. 1952Granville Dict. Theatr. Terms 111 Fond of limelight, greedy for notice. One who claims the centre of the stage. 1955Times 5 May 16/2 German bonds took the limelight in the foreign bond market. Ibid. 17 June 9/3 The publicity given to the submission of identical tenders for public authorities' contracts has brought the question into the limelight. 1967Guardian 3 Feb. 7/3 [He] did more than his bit of backing in to the limelight, and his declarations of his own genius aren't to everyone's taste. 1975R. Lewis Double Take iv. 127 In our business exposure to the limelight of the courts is like the kiss of death.
2. attrib.
1874Porcupine 11 Apr. 26/3 And [he], with the willing aid of the stage-carpenter, scenic artist, and limelight man, has made our blood curdle. 1874Cassell's Mag. May 432/1 The lime-light splendour of the tropics. 1876Porcupine 22 Apr. 59/1 There is plenty of bustle and ‘business’, and lots of pistol-shots and obliging limelight rays. 1892J. Nie Robinson Crusoe 6 Here! Where's the lime-light man? 1897G. B. Shaw Let. 11 June (1965) 774 A ten inch moon, a limelight sky. 1938W. Loraine Robert Loraine 31 And recount the events of the evening—the mistakes of the limelight man, the hacking cough from the third row.
▪ II. limelight, v.
[f. the n.]
trans. To illuminate by limelight. Usu. fig. Also ˈlimelighted, -lit ppl. a.; ˈlimelighting vbl. n.
1909Daily Chron. 10 Apr. 4/6 The most limelighted person in Europe this morning is Queen Wilhelmina of Holland. 1909Westm. Gaz. 10 Apr. 2/3 We had sympathised with the beautiful lime-lit heroine. 1927Daily Express 21 Feb. 2/4 Unfeminine modern women go limelighting their way through the world. 1927Observer 10 Apr. 29 This is not an occasion when the interests of motorists can be served by limelighting. 1940Nation (N.Y.) 28 Sept. 263/1 What are the facts that justify these limelighted conferences in Berlin and Rome? 1964Punch 12 Aug. 213/1 This keenness to pin something on the limelit. |