idol

/uyd"l/, n.

1. an image or other material object representing a deity to which religious worship is addressed.

2. Bible.

a. an image of a deity other than God.

b. the deity itself.

3. any person or thing regarded with blind admiration, adoration, or devotion: Madame Curie had been her childhood idol.

4. a mere image or semblance of something, visible but without substance, as a phantom.

5. a figment of the mind; fantasy.

6. a false conception or notion; fallacy.

[1200-50; ME < LL idolum < Gk eídolon image, idol, deriv. of eîdos shape, form]

Syn. 1. See image. 3. favorite, darling, pet.

* * *

Image or statue of a deity used as an object of worship.

In Judaism, the making of any representation of God is strictly forbidden, as is the fashioning of any "graven image." Islam has also adhered to this rule. In Christianity, there has been a general acceptance of pictorial or sculpted images of Jesus and the saints and, on occasion, God, and Christianity has thus always faced the danger that such representations could be venerated superstitiously as idols. In Jainism, Hinduism, and Buddhism images of gods and saints are common; they are often the object of veneration. In Hinduism, a statue may be treated as a god as an act of devotion but loses its special status when the act of devotion is finished (see Durga-puja, puja).

* * *