im

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 ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Imaged p. pr. & vb. n. Imaging ] 1. To represent or form an image of; as, the still lake imaged the shore; the mirror imaged her figure. “Shrines of imaged saints.” J. Warton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To represent to the mental vision; to form a likeness of by the fancy or recollection; to imagine. [ 1913 Webster ]

Condemn'd whole years in absence to deplore,
And image charms he must behold no more. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. That may be imaged. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having no image. Shelley. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who images or forms likenesses; a sculptor. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Praxiteles was ennobled for a rare imager. Holland. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. imagerie, F. imagerie. ] 1. The work of one who makes images or visible representation of objects; imitation work; images in general, or in mass. “Painted imagery.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

In those oratories might you see
Rich carvings, portraitures, and imagery. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Fig.: Unreal show; imitation; appearance. [ 1913 Webster ]

What can thy imagery of sorrow mean? Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The work of the imagination or fancy; false ideas; imaginary phantasms. [ 1913 Webster ]

The imagery of a melancholic fancy. Atterbury. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Rhetorical decoration in writing or speaking; vivid descriptions presenting or suggesting images of sensible objects; figures in discourse. [ 1913 Webster ]

I wish there may be in this poem any instance of good imagery. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Capacity for imagination. [ R. ] Coleridge. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. imaginabilis: cf. F. imaginable. ] Capable of being imagined; conceivable. [ 1913 Webster ]

Men sunk into the greatest darkness imaginable. Tillotson.

-- Im*ag"i*na*ble*ness, n. -- Im*ag"i*na*bly, adv. [ 1913 Webster ]