ignis fatuus

American  

[ig-nis fach-oo-uhs] / ˈɪg nɪs ˈfætʃ u əs /

noun

plural

ignes fatui

1. Also called friar's lantern, will-o'-the-wisp.  a flitting phosphorescent light seen at night, chiefly over marshy ground, and believed to be due to spontaneous combustion of gas from decomposed organic matter.

2. something deluding or misleading.

---

ignis fatuus British  

/ ˈɪɡnɪs ˈfætjʊəs /

noun

1. another name for will-o'-the-wisp

---

Etymology

Origin of ignis fatuus

1555–65; < Medieval Latin: literally, foolish fire

Example Sentences

How malignantly must this strange ignis fatuus, thought he, dance into the nightly conflict of all these clashing relations!

From Titan: A Romance Vol. II (of 2) by Jean Paul

Never did a geographical entity seem so to play the ignis fatuus with the world as did the River.

From The Columbia River Its History, Its Myths, Its Scenery, Its Commerce by Lyman, William Denison

Fallen trees were magnified into guns and mortars; variegated bushes into soldiers; the light between the trees into flags; and the midnight ignis fatuus, on its nocturnal rambles, into torches and lights of the enemy.

From Memoirs of the Extraordinary Military Career of John Shipp Late a Lieut. in His Majesty's 87th Regiment by Shipp, John

Love is not the offspring of an hour or a day, nor is it the ignis fatuus which plays about the brain, and disturbs the sleep of the youth and the maiden in their teens.

From Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Vol. 9 by Various

Diogenes is not the only man whose disturbed digestion has led multitudes, like an ignis fatuus, into the bogs and marshes of falsehood.

From Harper's New Monthly Magazine Vol. IV, No. 19, Dec 1851 by Various