rallying point

rallying point (plural rallying points)

1. A cause, symbol, or a place that may unite a fragmented group or persons opposing each over in other matters.
   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter VII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 63:

     "We have always some reigning mania," said the Chevalier de Joinville, when, in common with others of the court, he came in to Madame de Mercœur's, on his way to a fête given by Madame de Soissons, whose hôtel was more than ever the rallying point of the court. "Every body now is making what they call portraits of themselves and of their friends. ...

   • 1848, The History Of England From the Accession of James II, Macaulay, chapter 10:

     The proposition that James had ceased to be King had been the rallying point of the two parties which had made up the majority. But from that point their path diverged.

   • 1866, Josiah Gilbert Holland, “chapter 26”, in The Life of Abraham Lincoln:

     This proclamation was issued as a rallying point for those loyal or penitent elements which were believed to exist in many of the insurgent states, and which, in the confusion of plans for reconstruction, were lying dormant, and without practical advantage to the states themselves and to the government.

   • 1886, Sarah Woolsey, “chapter 3”, in What Katy Did Next:

     She perceived what is one of Boston's chief charms,—that the Common and its surrounding streets make a natural centre and rallying-point for the whole city; as the heart is the centre of the body and keeps up a quick correspondence and regulates the life of all its extremities.

   • 1900, James Grant Wilson and John Fiske, Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography, Adams, John Quincy

     He came to serve as the rallying-point in congress for the ever-growing anti-slavery sentiment, and may be regarded, in a certain sense, as the first founder of the new republican party.

   • 1905, Robert Louis Stevenson, “chapter 1”, in Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes:

     In the midst of this Babylon I found myself a rallying-point; every one was anxious to be kind and helpful to the stranger.

   • 1971, John Kerry, John Kerry's testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee:

     In 1970 at West Point, Vice President Agnew said "some glamorize the criminal misfits of society while our best men die in Asian rice paddies to preserve the freedom which most of those misfits abuse" and this was used as a rallying point for our effort in Vietnam.

2. (military) A designated area for troops to concentrate upon; a sign marking such area
   • 1924, William Muir, “chapter 35”, in The Caliphate: Its Rise, Decline and Fall:

     At last, 'Ali, perceiving that her camel was the rallying-point of the enemy, sent one of his captains to hamstring, and thus disable it. With a loud cry the animal fell to the ground.