idol

2. Someone else's god. A "false" god.

3. A false idea, erroneous pattern of thought, or fallacy. See Francis Bacon's "Novum Organum".

4. A famous person or celebrity.

5. A Japanese pop music singer. See idoru.

I"dol (?), n. [OE. idole, F. idole, L. idolum, fr. Gr. , fr. that which is seen, the form, shape, figure, fr. to see. See Wit, and cf. Eidolon.]

1.

An image or representation of anything.

Do her adore with sacred reverence, As th' idol of her maker's great magnificence. Spenser.

2.

An image of a divinity; a representation or symbol of a deity or any other being or thing, made or used as an object of worship; a similitude of a false god.

That they should not worship devils, and idols of gold. Rev. ix. 20.

3.

That on which the affections are strongly (often excessively) set; an object of passionate devotion; a person or thing greatly loved or adored.

The soldier's god and people's idol. Denham.

4.

A false notion or conception; a fallacy.

Bacon.

The idols of preconceived opinion. Coleridge.

© Webster 1913.