phasm
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
Latin phasma or Ancient Greek φάσμα (phásma). See phase.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
phasm (plural phasms or phasma)
- (obsolete) An apparition; a phantom.
- 1654, H[enry] Hammond, Of Fundamentals in a Notion Referring to Practise, London: […] J[ames] Flesher for Richard Royston, […], →OCLC:
- For heart is besides that from thence proceed many aerial fictions , and not from God, phasms, and chimeras , created by the vanity of our own hearts
- 1677, Sir Thomas Herbert, Some Yeares Travels into Africa and Asia the Great:
- After a small space the lights‥extinguish, and‥the Phasma having assumed a bodily shape or other false representation accompanies her.
References edit
- “phasm”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.