n. [ F., fr. L. imago, imaginis, from the root of imitari to imitate. See Imitate, and cf. Imagine. ] 1. An imitation, representation, or similitude of any person, thing, or act, sculptured, drawn, painted, or otherwise made perceptible to the sight; a visible presentation; a copy; a likeness; an effigy; a picture; a semblance. [ 1913 Webster ] Even like a stony image, cold and numb. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ] Whose is this image and superscription? Matt. xxii. 20. [ 1913 Webster ] This play is the image of a murder done in Vienna. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ] And God created man in his own image. Gen. i. 27. [ 1913 Webster ] 2. Hence: The likeness of anything to which worship is paid; an idol. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ] Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, . . . thou shalt not bow down thyself to them. Ex. xx. 4, 5. [ 1913 Webster ] 3. Show; appearance; cast. [ 1913 Webster ] The face of things a frightful image bears. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ] 4. A representation of anything to the mind; a picture drawn by the fancy; a conception; an idea. [ 1913 Webster ] Can we conceive Image of aught delightful, soft, or great? Prior. [ 1913 Webster ] 5. (Rhet.) A picture, example, or illustration, often taken from sensible objects, and used to illustrate a subject; usually, an extended metaphor. Brande & C. [ 1913 Webster ] 6. (Opt.) The figure or picture of any object formed at the focus of a lens or mirror, by rays of light from the several points of the object symmetrically refracted or reflected to corresponding points in such focus; this may be received on a screen, a photographic plate, or the retina of the eye, and viewed directly by the eye, or with an eyeglass, as in the telescope and microscope; the likeness of an object formed by reflection; as, to see one's image in a mirror. [ 1913 Webster ] Electrical image. See under Electrical. -- Image breaker, one who destroys images; an iconoclast. -- Image graver, Image maker, a sculptor. -- Image worship, the worship of images as symbols; iconolatry distinguished from idolatry; the worship of images themselves. -- Image Purkinje (Physics), the image of the retinal blood vessels projected in, not merely on, that membrane. -- Virtual image (Optics), a point or system of points, on one side of a mirror or lens, which, if it existed, would emit the system of rays which actually exists on the other side of the mirror or lens. Clerk Maxwell. [ 1913 Webster ]
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