Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Limelight |
LimelightNoun1. A focus of public attention; "he enjoyed being in the limelight". 2. A lamp consisting of a flame directed at a cylinder of lime with a lens to concentrate the light; formerly used for stage lighting. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "limelight" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1856. (references) |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Limelight originally referred to a type of stage lighting used in theatres and music halls. Although it has long since been replaced by electric lighting, someone in the public eye is still said to be "in the limelight". The Limelight is the name of two different nightclubs one in New York, the other in London. Limelight is a 1952 movie written, directed by and starring Charles Chaplin, co-starring Claire Bloom, with a guest appearance by Buster Keaton. In dance scenes Bloom is doubled by Melissa Hayden. The film score is composed by Chaplin and arranged by Ray Rasche.Warning: Wikipedia contains spoilers
The movie is set in London in 1914, on the eve of World War I. Calvero (Chaplin), once a famous stage clown but now a washed-up drunk, saves a young dancer, Thereza, alias Terry (Bloom) from suicide. Nursing her back to health, Calvero helps Terry regain her self-esteem and resume her dancing career. In doing so he regains his own self-confidence, but his attempts to make a comeback are less successful. Terry says she wants to marry Calvero despite their age difference, although she has befriended Neville, a young composer whom Calvero believes would be better suited to her. In order to give them a chance Calvero leaves home and becomes a street entertainer. Terry, now starring in her own show, eventually finds Calvero and persuades him to return to the stage for a benefit concert. Reunited wth his old partner (Keaton), Calvero gives a triumphant comeback performance but suffers a heart attack and dies in the wings while just a few feet away Terry, the second act on the bill, is dancing on stage.
Limelight is one of Chaplin's less well-known films, but provides some important insights into his personality and career. The film is unashamedly preachy and sentimental. It is also Chaplin's most personal movie. His own film career began in 1914, and in the story of an aging entertainer looking back over his glorious career Chaplin seems to be facing the fear that he himself may be all washed up. It is certainly significant that in the fading stage posters on Calvero's wall he is described as a "tramp comic", and indeed in some of his stage performances in the film he wears a ragged outfit that is clearly a variation on Chaplin's Little Tramp costume. Terry's story - orphaned at an early age, her sister forced into prostitution - also has clear similarities to that of Chaplin's mother.
Although the film is set in London it was entirely filmed in Hollywood. The run-down street where Calvero lives was built on a backlot; some exterior scenes use back-projected footage of London. In any case, most of the action takes place indoors. Most of the cast are either British or have convincing British accents, a notable exception being Chaplin himself, who had after all been living in the US for decades.
This was soon to change. While touring Britain to promote the film Chaplin learned that he had been refused a re-entry visa to the United States because of his alleged communist sympathies. To add insult to injury, Limelight was banned in the US, although fortunately copies were already in circulation in other countries which meant that the US authorities could not order the film impounded or destroyed. It was not until 1972 that the film was finally seen in America, and Chaplin was awarded an Oscar for Best Original Dramatic Score. The Academy subsequently changed the rules to prevent films more than two years old receiving awards.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Limelight."
Synonyms: LimelightSynonyms: calcium light (n), public eye (n), spotlight (n). (additional references) |
| Synonyms by domain: footlight (fine arts, sports & leisure), footlights (fine arts, sports & leisure). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Lyrics | You’ve got to have a limelight (Don't Shed A Tear; performing artist: Paul Carrack) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Limelight (1952) Black Limelight (1938) Limelight (1936) Letty Limelight in Her Lair (1900) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
References | |||
Books | |||
Periodicals |
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Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
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| "Limelight Abstract I" by Elisabeth Howe Commentary: ":D." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. |
| "Limelight" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 98.57% of the time. "Limelight" is used about 210 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 98.57% | 207 | 21,147 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.95% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Noun (common) | 0.48% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 210 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| Country | Name |
| United Kingdom | Limelight Group Plc |
| (more examples...) |
Source: compiled by the editor from Icon Group International, Inc.
Expressions using "limelight": be in the limelight ♦ hog the limelight ♦ in the limelight ♦ keep out of the limelight. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "limelight"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | qendër e vëmendjes (focus), dritë e fortë. (various references) | |
Arabic | كان محط الأنظار, كان تحت الأضواء, مركز الأهتمام, أضواء المسرح (footlights). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | светлина на рампата, светлини на сцената, осветление на сцената, друмондова светлина. (various references) | |
Chinese | 舞台中心. (various references) | |
Czech | svìtlo rampy. (various references) | |
Farsi | محل موردتوجه وتماشای عموم , چراغ یانورقوی . (various references) | |
Finnish | joutua parrasvaloon (come into the limelight). (various references) | |
French | feux de la rampe. (various references) | |
German | rampenlicht (footlights, spotlight). (various references) | |
Greek | φώτα της ράμπας, φωσ (light), επίδειξη (demonstration, demonstration of, display, ostentation, pageantry, show, show off, showing, sideshow, splurge, swank), επί τησ σκηνήσ προβαλλόμενο ζωηρό φωσ, λάμψη (brightness, coruscation, eclat, effulgence, flare, flash, glare, glint, glisten, glitter, glow, luster, lustre, radiance, radiancy, refulgence, resplendence, resplendency, shine, shininess, shining, splendor, splendour, twinkle), δημοσιότητα (publicity). (various references) | |
Hebrew | מרכז התענינות, אורות הבימה (footlights). (various references) | |
Hungarian | rivaldafény (float, foot-lights, stage lights), reflektorfény (beam, floodlight, spotlight). (various references) | |
Italian | luci della ribalta (footlights). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 脚光 (footlight), フックの法則 (football, footlights, hook bowl, hook line, Hooke's law), ライフル銃 (Leipzig, librarian, library, life-work, lilac, lime, live, live house, live recording, live show, rhyme, ribosome, rifle). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | フットライト (footlights), ライムライト , きゃっこう (footlight). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | imelightlay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | luz oxídrica, luz de carbureto, ribalta (float, footlights, stage), publicidade (advertisement, light, publicity, publicness, spotlight). (various references) | |
Romanian | luminã reflectorului, luminã rampei, rampã (acclivity, banister, banisters, barrier, float, footlights, grade, handrail, platform, ramp, slope, stage-lights). (various references) | |
Russian | свет рампы. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | svetlo pozorišnih reflektora, dramondova svetlost, centar pažnje. (various references) | |
Spanish | luz serena, luz de candilejas, luz de calcio. (various references) | |
Swedish | rampljus (footlights). (various references) | |
Turkish | sahne ışığı (spot, spotlight), karpit lâmbası. (various references) | |
Ukrainian | світло рампи. (various references) | |
Vietnamese | nổi tiếng (eminent, famed, famous, noted, popular, renowned, well-known), nổi bật (outstanding, striking), đèn sân khấu. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "limelight": limelighted, limelighting, limelights. (additional references) | |
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"Limelight" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: limeligth, Lyseight. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "limelight" (pronounced lī"mlī't) |
| 3 | -l ī' t | acolyte, backlight, candlelight, cryolite, impolite, daylight, flashlight, floodlight, headlight, highlight, inflight, lazulite, moonlight, niccolite, overflight, satellite, searchlight, skylight, socialite, spotlight, starlight, stoplight, sunlight, twilight. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "e-g-h-i-i-l-l-m-t" | |
-2 letters: ghillie. | |
-3 letters: gillie, gimlet, illite, millet. | |
-4 letters: eight, gimel, glime, legit, light, limit, lithe, might, mille, thill. | |
-5 letters: elhi, emit, gelt, gill, gilt, glim, heil, hell, helm, hili, hill, hilt, item, lilt, lime, lite, mell, melt, meth, mile, mill, milt, mite, tell, them, tile, till, time. | |
| Words containing the letters "e-g-h-i-i-l-l-m-t" | |
+1 letter: limelights. | |
+2 letters: limelighted. | |
+3 letters: limelighting. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Images: Digital Art 7. Usage Frequency 8. Names: Company Usage | 9. Expressions 10. Expressions: Internet 11. Translations: Modern 12. Derivations | 13. Rhymes 14. Anagrams 15. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
