spotlight

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A strong beam of light that illuminates only a small area, used especially to center attention on a stage performer.
• noun A lamp that produces such a light.
• noun Public notoriety or prominence.
• noun An artificial source of light with a strongly focused beam, as on an automobile.
• transitive verb To illuminate with a spotlight.
• transitive verb To focus attention on.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun The projected spot or circle of light used to illuminate brilliantly a single person or object or group on the stage, leaving the rest of the stage more or less unilluminated.
• noun Cant or Colloq. hence, conspicuous public notice.
• noun A lighting apparatus designed to throw an intense beam of light onto a small area.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun a bright, directional light or lamp, especially one used to illuminate the focus or center of attention on a stage
• noun the circle of light shed by a spotlight
• noun the center of attention; the highlight or most important part
• verb To illuminate with a spotlight.
• verb To draw attention to.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• verb move into the foreground to make more visible or prominent
• noun a lamp that produces a strong beam of light to illuminate a restricted area; used to focus attention of a stage performer
• verb illuminate with a spotlight, as in the theater
• noun a focus of public attention