English

Etymology

From (eidōlon) "figure, representation" < (eidos) "sight" < (eidō) "I see" .

Pronunciation

• italbrac RP /aɪ'dəʊlən/
• italbrac US /aɪ'doʊlɑn/

Noun

1. An image or representation of an idea; a representation of an ideal form; an apparition of some actual or imaginary entity, or of some aspect of reality.
   • 1936, Henry Miller, Black Spring:

     As a species it is extinct; as an eidolon it retains its corporeality – but only if maintained in a state of equipoise.

   • 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage 2007, p.697:

     Kit was sitting up staring into the dark at this eidolon, inelegantly turned out contrary to a whole raft of public-decency statutes, which had come monitory and breathing in to violate Kit's insomnia.

Eidolon may refer to:

• Eidolon (astral double), a Greek concept of a shade or astral double of a living being
• Eidolon (pottery), humans or humans with animal parts painted on Greek pottery.
• The Eidolon, a computer game from the 1980s by Lucasfilm Games
• Eidolon Software, a software company that caters to NextStep and Mac OS X clients
• Eidolon (band), a power metal band
• Acoustic Eidolon, a band playing cello and a unique double-neck guitjo, formerly known only as Eidolon
• "Eidolon" a misspelling of the Eidelon (Farscape), an alien species in Farscape
• Eidolon a character in the Star Wars fan film Reign of the Fallen.

Eidolon may also be used for:

• Simulacrum
• Eidolon Chronicles, a series of children's novels by Jane Johnson
• Eidolon (bat), a genus of straw-coloured fruit bats in the family Pteropodidae
• Eidolon (Serpent Rider), one of the Serpent Riders in the Heretic-Hexen computer games
• Eidolon (Final Fantasy), The name given to summonable creatures in Final Fantasy IX, known in other titles variously as Summons, Espers, Aeons and Guardian Forces.
• Eidolon (City of Heroes), boss characters of the Vahzilok, labeled as Mire, Murk, or Luminous
• Eidolon is a spirit creature type from the Magic: The Gathering trading card game (Dissension Expansion of the Ravnica Block).

See also

• Eidolon (manga)
• Eidolons
• Idolon specus
• Idolon tribus

Masan, angle, apparition, appearance, aspect, astral, astral spirit, banshee, brainchild, bubble, chimera, configuration, control, delirium, departed spirit, disembodied spirit, duppy, dybbuk, effect, facet, fancy, fantasque, fantasy, fashion, feature, fiction, figment, figure, form, gestalt, ghost, grateful dead, guide, guise, hallucination, hant, haunt, idle fancy, idolum, illusion, image, imagery, imagination, imagining, imago, immateriality, impression, incorporeal, incorporeal being, incorporeity, insubstantial image, invention, larva, lemures, light, likeness, lineaments, look, maggot, make-believe, manes, manner, materialization, myth, oni, phantasm, phantasma, phantasmagoria, phantom, phase, phasis, poltergeist, presence, reference, regard, respect, revenant, romance, seeming, semblance, shade, shadow, shape, shrouded spirit, sick fancy, side, simulacrum, slant, specter, spectral ghost, spirit, spook, sprite, style, theophany, thick-coming fancies, total effect, trip, twist, unsubstantiality, vapor, view, viewpoint, vision, waking dream, walking dead man, wandering soul, whim, whimsy, wildest dream, wildest dreams, wise, wraith, zombie