See Also: idol(dictionary)
idol(encyclopedia)
idol(dictionary)
matinee idol(dictionary)

idol (iou)



idol noun, adjective, & verb. ME.
[Old & mod. French id(e)le, idole from Latin idolum image, form, apparition, (ecclesiastical Latin) idol, from Greek eidolon, from eidos form, shape.]
A. noun.
I. From Jewish and Christian use.
An image or representation of a god or divinity used as an object of worship; a false god; arch. derog. a material object of worship in a Christian church. ME.
Moorish idol: see MOORISH adjective2.
E. H. Gombrich Idols of which the Bible speaks: that people prayed before them.
A person who or thing which is the object of extreme or excessive devotion. M16.
MATINeE idol.
S. Berington Money, the Idol of other People, was the least of his Care. A. McCowen My early idols were Jack Hulbert and Cicely Courtneidge.
II. From classical Greek and Latin use.
An image or representation of a person or thing; esp. a statue. M16-E17.
b. A likeness, an imitation. L16-M17.
c. A counterfeit, a sham; an impostor, a pretender. L16-M17.
An image without substance; a reflection, a phantom. Now rare. M16.
A fantasy, a fancy. Now rare. L16.
b. Philosophy (now Hist.). A false mental image or conception; a false or misleading notion; a fallacy. L17.
idols of the tribe, idols of the cave, idols of the market, idols of the theatre four classes of fallacies referred by Bacon (1620) respectively to limitations of human mind, prejudices of idiosyncrasy, influence of words, philosophical and logical prepossessions.
b. attrib. or as adjective. Of, pertaining to, or resembling an idol. M16.
C. verb trans. Idolize. Now only poet. L16.