idol Copy link Outline I. A pagan deity1. īdōlum, also -on, i2. sĭmŭlācrumII. Fig. • idol: I. A pagan deity: 1. īdōlum, also -on, i: Vulg.: 1 Cor. viii. 1.: Tert. 2. sĭmŭlācrum: v. image. II. Fig.: anything devotedly loved: ămōres, dēlĭciae: Pompey my i., Pompeius nostri amores, Cic. Att. 2, 16, 2: your i. Roscius, amores ac deliciae tuae, Roscius, Cic. Div. 1, 36, 79. Phr.: the i. of the whole people, erga quem summus populi amor; cui cuncti favent, cf. Cic. Att. 2, 21, 3: he became at once the i. of the army, primo statim adventu omnem exercitum in se convertit, Liv. 21, 4, init.: he is my i., totum me tenet, habet, possidet, Plin. Ep. 1, 16, 1: my i., ille amicus noster, Cic. Att. 2, 21, 2.
IDOL Copy link • IDOLPROPR., idolum (ecclesiastical): signum or simulacrum dei: deus fictus or commenticius, or fictus et commenticius. To worship idols, *deos fictos et commenticios venerari, colere; *simulacra divino cultu colere. FIG., Demetrius is their idol, Demetrius iis unus omnia est (Liv.): the son is the mother’s idol, mater filium in oculis gestat: to make a person or thing one’s idol, aliquem, aliquid pro deo venerari; insanire amore alicujus rei: to make anybody the idol of anybody, facere aliquem apud aliquem deum (Terentianus). Sometimes heros (of a political idol; the great man of a party; e.g., heros ille noster Cato).