Limelight

To occupy the limelight means to be in a conspicuous position, which attracts maximum attention or publicity. In the early 19th century, before electricity, if intense lighting was needed as a special effect on stage, theatres would use lime and ignite it by means of an oxy-hydrogen flame, thereby creating an intense white light. This was called limelight. Such special effects can now be achieved with electric lighting. Associated figurative meanings, such as the ‘glare’ of publicity, have been retained in the language deriving from these early forms of stage lighting.