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Definition: icon from Philip's Encyclopedia

Religious painting or sculpture, often of Christ, the Virgin and Child or individual saints. The term is particularly used of Byzantine pictures and later Russian imitations. Icons were were produced as early as the 5th century and have been used as an aid to prayer from the 6th century. In the Eastern Christian Church the veneration of icons was banned (726-843).

icon

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
[Gr. eikon =image], single image created as a focal point of religious veneration, especially a painted or carved portable object of the Orthodox Eastern faith. Icons commonly represent Christ Pantocrator, the Virgin as Queen of the Heavens, or, less frequently, the saints; since the 6th cent. they have been considered an aid to the devotee in making his prayers heard by the holy figure represented in the icon. The icon grew out of the mosaic and fresco tradition of early Byzantine art (see Byzantine art and architecture ). It was used to decorate the wall and floor surfaces of churches, baptisteries, and sepulchers, and later was carried on standards in time of war and in religious processions. Although the art form was in common use by the end of the 5th cent., early monuments have been lost, largely because of their destruction during the iconoclastic controversy (726–843; see iconoclasm ). Little has survived that was created before the 10th cent. Byzantine icons were produced in…
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Full text Article Icon

From Brewer's Dictionary of Modern Phrase and Fable
Apart from its original use to denote a painting of a holy figure, by the early 1990s 'icon' had acquired two new meanings: first, and generally, as a word for a famous person regarded as a cult figure (as if worshipped, like the holy icon); second, and specifically, as a term for a small symbolic…
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Full text Article icon

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
[Gr. eikon =image], single image created as a focal point of religious veneration, especially a painted or carved portable object of the Orthodox Eastern faith. Icons commonly represent Christ Pantocrator, the Virgin as Queen of the Heavens, or, less frequently, the saints; since the 6th cent. they…
| 383 words
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Full text Article Icon

From Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders
Symbol An icon, or symbol, is a visual representation of a word or linguistic concept. Icons are used in selection-based iconic communication systems (e.g., Picture Exchange Communication Systems, Visual Schedules). The iconicity of icons has been evaluated relative to transparency and translucency. …
| 410 words
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Full text Article ICON

From Dictionary of Visual Discourse: A Dialectical Lexicon of Terms
From the Greek eikon , likeness, hence pertaining to images or idols. In the tradition of Byzantine art, the figures of Christ and the Virgin Mary appear as the predominant subjects of iconic art. In contemporary discourse ‘icon’ typically refers to those who have come to symbolize the style, mood, …
| 152 words
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Full text Article ICON

From 100 Ideas that Changed Art
Icons—a term derived from the Greek word eikon , meaning “image”—are pictures of holy figures in Orthodox Christianity. Beyond providing a focus for worship, icons represent a wider conviction that spiritual truth can take physical form, giving the work of art itself a sacred aura.Can, or should, …
| 482 words
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Full text Article icon

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
In the Greek or Eastern Orthodox Church, a religious picture of Jesus , Mary , an angel , or a saint , in painting, low relief, or mosaic; the full face must always be shown. Painted icons were traditionally made on wood. After the 17th century, and mainly in Russia, a riza was often added as…
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Full text Article ICONICITY

From The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics
A natural resemblance or analogy of form between a word (the signifier) and the object it refers to (the signified; see sign, signified, signifier ). In the semiotics of C. S. Peirce, every sign mediates between its referent and a meaning; the relation among signifier, signified, and meaning is, in…
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Full text Article icon

From The Macquarie Dictionary
a picture, image, or other representation. Plural: icons noun /'a1k6n/ /'uykon/ Variants: eikon, ikon Eastern Church a representation in painting, enamel, etc., of some sacred personage, as Christ or a saint or angel, itself venerated as sacred. Plural: icons noun /'a1k6n/ /'uykon/ Variants: eikon, …
| 200 words
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Full text Article Iconicity

From Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science
In spite of the relative autonomy of grammar, there are many ways win which the structure of language directly reflects the structure of thought. George Bush and his driver are out for a drive in the country. Suddenly a pig crosses their path and they run over it. ‘Oh, my gosh!’ says Bush. ‘Go tell…
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Full text Article Iconic Systems

From Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders
Iconic systems are systems of communication in which icons or symbols are used to represent words or linguistic concepts. Iconic systems are a type of augmentative communication. Iconic systems can be part of a picture exchange system (e.g., PECS) or used in augmentative communication devices. …
| 533 words
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