pole star vs spotlight

pole star

noun
  • A person, principle, or thing which acts as a guide; a guiding light; also, something which attracts much attention; a centre of attention. 

  • The star visible to the naked eye which was in the past, is now, or will be in the future nearest a celestial pole of a planet. 

spotlight

noun
  • A bright, directional light or lamp, especially one used to illuminate the focus or center of attention on a stage. 

  • The center of attention; the highlight or most important part. 

  • The circle of light shed by a spotlight. 

verb
  • To illuminate with a spotlight. 

  • Synonym of jacklight (“to use a spotlight in hunting animals”) 

  • To draw attention to. 

How often have the words pole star and spotlight occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )