1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Cynosure
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| See also Polaris on Wikipedia, cynosure on Wiktionary, and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer. |
CYNOSURE (Lat. cynosura, Gr. κυνόσουρα, from κυνός, genitive of κύων, a dog, and οὐρά, tail), the name given by the Greeks and Romans to the constellation of the Little Bear, Ursa Minor; the word is applied in English to the pole-star which appears in that constellation, and hence to something bright which, like a “guiding-star,” draws all attention to it, as in Milton's “cynosure of neighbouring eyes.”