Mirage

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Mirage \Mi`rage"\, n. [F., fr. mirer to look at carefully, to
     aim, se mirer to look at one's self in a glass, to reflect,
     to be reflected, LL. mirare to look at. See {Mirror}.]
     An optical effect, sometimes seen on the ocean, but more
     frequently in deserts, due to total reflection of light at
     the surface common to two strata of air differently heated.


     The reflected image is seen, commonly in an inverted
     position, while the real object may or may not be in sight.
     When the surface is horizontal, and below the eye, the
     appearance is that of a sheet of water in which the object is
     seen reflected; when the reflecting surface is above the eye,
     the image is seen projected against the sky. The {fata
     Morgana} and {looming} are species of mirage.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           By the mirage uplifted the land floats vague in the
           ether,
           Ships and the shadows of ships hang in the motionless
           air.                                     --Longfellow.
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  mirage
       n 1: an optical illusion in which atmospheric refraction by a
            layer of hot air distorts or inverts reflections of
            distant objects
       2: something illusory and unattainable

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  87 Moby Thesaurus words for "mirage":
     apparition, appearance, bafflement, balk, bamboozlement, befooling,
     betrayed hope, blasted expectation, blighted hope, blow, bluffing,
     buffet, calculated deception, circumvention, comedown, conning,
     cruel disappointment, dash, dashed hope, deceiving, deception,
     deceptiveness, defeat, defrauding, delusion, delusiveness,
     disappointment, discomfiture, disillusionment, dissatisfaction,
     dupery, enmeshment, ensnarement, entanglement, entrapment, failure,
     fallaciousness, fallacy, fallen countenance, false image,
     falseness, fata morgana, fiasco, figure, fizzle, flimflam,
     flimflammery, foiling, fond illusion, fooling, forlorn hope, form,
     frustration, hallucination, hoodwinking, hope deferred, illusion,
     image, kidding, letdown, looming, outwitting, overreaching,
     phantasm, phantom, phasm, phenomenon, presence, putting on,
     self-deception, setback, shape, snow job, song and dance,
     sore disappointment, spoofery, spoofing, subterfuge, swindling,
     tantalization, tease, trickiness, tricking, victimization, vision,
     willful misconception, wishful thinking