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Ignis fatuus   Listen
noun
Ignis fatuus  n.  (pl. ignes fatui)  
1.
A phosphorescent light that appears, in the night, over marshy ground, supposed to be occasioned by the decomposition of animal or vegetable substances, or by some inflammable gas; popularly called also Will-with-the-wisp, or Will-o'-the-wisp, and Jack-with-a-lantern, or Jack-o'-lantern. It is thought by some to be caused by phosphine, PH3, a sponaneously combustible gas.
2.
Fig.: A misleading influence; a decoy. "Scared and guided by the ignis fatuus of popular superstition."






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Ignis fatuus" Quotes from Famous Books



... regions of country like an ignis fatuus. He appears suddenly like an avatar, or saunters over weary wastes a poor and starving hunter. His voice is at one moment deep and sonorous as a thunder-clap, and at another clothed with the softness of feminine supplication. Scarcely any two persons agree in all the minor circumstances of the ...
— The Myth of Hiawatha, and Other Oral Legends, Mythologic and Allegoric, of the North American Indians • Henry R. Schoolcraft



Words linked to "Ignis fatuus" :   visible radiation, fantasy, phantasy, visible light, friar's lantern



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