Cynosure - Encyclopedia

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

CYNOSURE (Lat. cynosura, Gr. Kuv660upa, from Kvvos, genitive of 105 wv, a dog, and oi'pa, 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."