clou

Noun

clou (plural clous)

1. Something which holds the greatest attention; the chief point of interest.
   • But had he not refused her the wherewithal to remember him—the pearls she needed as the clou of her dear collection, the great relic among relics?1911, Max Beerbohm, Zuleika Dobson
   • Partly because they were constructed of multiple shot-scenes and recorded exclusively in LS, their elaborate decors acquired an even more privileged role — as tableaux and clous of spectacle — much in the manner of late nineteenth-century French stage productions […]1994, Richard Abel, The Ciné Goes to Town: French Cinema, 1896-1914, page 70