IGNIS FATUUS • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Ignis fatuus

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noun

Ignis fatuus n. (pl. ignes fatui)

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.

Fig.: A misleading influence; a decoy. "Scared and guided by the ignis fatuus of popular superstition."

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Etymology of 'Ignis fatuus'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Ignis fatuus" Quotes from Famous Books

... Ignis fatuus, called by the vulgar Kit of the Candlestick, is not very rare on our downes about Michaelmass. [These ignes fatui, or Jack-o'- lanthorns, as they are popularly called, are frequently seen in low ...

— The Natural History of Wiltshire • John Aubrey

... aeroplane lying across an English hedgerow! Even Miss Fraenkel, I think, has no clear knowledge of Mrs. Carville's part in the tragedy of that New Year's Night. I remarked early in this narrative that Miss Fraenkel's importance in it was of the slightest. Her charming enthusiasm was ever an ignis fatuus leading her into unprofitable bye-ways of conjecture. We have, therefore, the superior position as regards the vanished family who lived next door. We know, as I have said, where they are gone; but we do not ...

— Aliens • William McFee

... 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