Defn: An optical instrument or toy, resembling the phenakistoscope, and illustrating the same principle; — called also phantasmascope.
PHANTASM
Phan"tasm, n. Etym: [L. phantasma. See Phantom, and cf. Fantasm.]
[Spelt also fantasm.]
1. An image formed by the mind, and supposed to be real or material; a shadowy or airy appearance; sometimes, an optical illusion; a phantom; a dream. They be but phantasms or apparitions. Sir W. Raleigh.
2. A mental image or representation of a real object; a fancy; a notion. Cudworth. Figures or little features, of which the description had produced in you no phantasm or expectation. Jer. Taylor.
PHANTASMA
Phan"tas"ma, n. Etym: [L.]
Defn: A phantasm.
PHANTASMAGORIA
Phan*tas`ma*go"ri*a, n. Etym: [NL., from Gr. phantasmagorie.]
1. An optical effect produced by a magic lantern. The figures are painted in transparent colors, and all the rest of the glass is opaque black. The screen is between the spectators and the instrument, and the figures are often made to appear as in motion, or to merge into one another.
2. The apparatus by which such an effect is produced.
3. Fig.: A medley of figures; illusive images. "This mental phantasmagoria." Sir W. Scott.