Saturday, February 09, 2008

phantasmagoria




I learned a new word today:

phantasmagoria [fan-taz-muh-gawr-ee-uh, -gohr-]

noun

1.a shifting series of phantasms, illusions, or deceptive appearances, as in a dream or as created by the imagination.

2.a changing scene made up of many elements.

3.an optical illusion produced by a magic lantern or the like in which figures increase or diminish in size, pass into each other, dissolve, etc.

assembly, gathering; see -ia][Origin: 1795-1805; F fantasmagorie, compound based on fantasme phantasm; second element perh. repr. Gk agor