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.

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ignis fatuus British  

/ ˈɪɡnɪs ˈfætjʊəs /

noun

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

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Etymology

Origin of ignis fatuus

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

Example Sentences

It flashed through his mind that he had wasted two months pursuing an ignis fatuus, only to have nothing but bitterness at the end, when it might have been ——!

From Six Prize Hawaiian Stories of the Kilohana Art League by Armstrong, W. N.

He paused, leaning on the yoke, his dreary eyes still on the ignis fatuus of the woods.

From The Prophet of the Great Smoky Mountains by Murfree, Mary Noailles

Character, the vital principle of the individual, is the ignis fatuus of the mechanical biographer.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Slice 3 "Borgia, Lucrezia" to "Bradford, John" by Various

What shells would he not have expended upon the poor ignis fatuus!

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

It is a proteus that changes its shape before one can describe it —an ignis fatuus, that changes its place before one can get his hand on it.

From Calvinistic Controversy Embracing a Sermon on Predestination and Election and Several Numbers, Formally Published in the Christian Advocate and Journal. by Fisk, Wilbur