Avatar (Angels and Agony album)
WordNet
noun
(1) The manifestation of a Hindu deity (especially Vishnu) in human or superhuman or animal form
"The Buddha is considered an avatar of the god Vishnu"
(2) A new personification of a familiar idea
"The embodiment of hope"
"The incarnation of evil"
"The very avatar of cunning"
WiktionaryText
Etymology
From Hindustani / , from , a compound of and the vṛddhi-stem of the root .
Noun
- In Hinduism the incarnation of a deity, particularly Vishnu.
- The physical embodiment of an idea or concept; a personification.
- 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson, dedicatory letter to Kidnapped [contrasting the historical Alan Breac with his incarnation in the novel].
- And honest Alan, who was a grim fire-eater in his day, has in this new avatar no more desperate purpose than to steal some young gentleman's attention from his Ovid...
- 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson, dedicatory letter to Kidnapped [contrasting the historical Alan Breac with his incarnation in the novel].
- A digital representation of a person or being. As used in online communities such as Second Life.
- 1992 Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash
- The people are pieces of software called avatars. They are the audiovisual bodies that people use to communicate with each other in the Metaverse.
- 1986 Habitat, video game published by Lucasfilms. Cited as the original source of this term in this context under the acknowledgments for Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash.
- 1992 Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash