footlight

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a stage light positioned along the front edge of a stage and directed upward at the performers

   The duke arranged a row of candles to serve as footlights.

2. 2
   noun

   the theater or acting profession, especially in the plural phrase before the footlights

   She dreamed of a career before the footlights.

A compound of foot + light, named for lamps placed at the foot of a stage. The plural footlights became a metonym for theatrical performance and the acting profession.

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