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Webster 1913 Edition
Phantasmagoria
Phan-tasˊma-go′ri-a
,Noun.
[NL., from Gr.
φάντασμα
a phantasm + ἀγορά
an assembly, fr. ἀγείρειν
to gather: cf. F. phantasmagorie
.] 1.
An optical effect produced by a magic lantern. The figures are painted in transparent colors, and all the rest of the glass is opaque black. The screen is between the spectators and the instrument, and the figures are often made to appear as in motion, or to merge into one another.
2.
The apparatus by which such an effect is produced.
3.
Fig.: A medley of figures; illusive images.
“This mental phantasmagoria.” Sir W. Scott.
Definition 2024
phantasmagoria
phantasmagoria
English
Alternative forms
Noun
phantasmagoria (plural phantasmagorias)
- A popular 18th- and 19th-century form of theatre entertainment whereby ghostly apparitions are formed; a magic lantern.
- A series of events involving rapid changes in light intensity and colour.
- A dreamlike state where real and imagined elements are blurred together.
- Sir Walter Scott
- This mental phantasmagoria.
- 1874, Marcus Clarke, For the Term of His Natural Life Chapter V
- It is impossible to convey, in words, any idea of the hideous phantasmagoria of shifting limbs and faces which moved through the evil-smelling twilight of this terrible prison-house. Callot might have drawn it, Dante might have suggested it, but a minute attempt to describe its horrors would but disgust. There are depths in humanity which one cannot explore, as there are mephitic caverns into which one dare not penetrate.
- Sir Walter Scott
Derived terms
Terms derived from phantasmagoria
Translations
a series of events
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a dreamlike state
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