Definition of "rallying point"
rallying point
noun
plural rallying points
A cause, symbol, or a place that may unite a fragmented group or persons opposing each over in other matters.
Quotations
"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...
1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter VII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), page 63
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.
1866, Josiah Gilbert Holland, “chapter 26”, in The Life of Abraham Lincoln
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.
1886, Sarah Woolsey, “chapter 3”, in What Katy Did Next
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.
1971, John Kerry, John Kerry's testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee