[a. Fr. apparition (15th c. in Litt.), ad. L. appāritiōn-em, n. of action f. appārē-re to APPEAR: See -TION. The senses are those of late L. and Fr. Cl. L. had only the sense ‘attendance, service, servants,’ f. a special sense of appārēre ‘to appear at a summons, wait upon, attend’: see APPARITOR, APARAUNT. (Etymologically, exactly = APPEARANCE, and having a parallel development of senses. But now almost restricted in common use to sense 9, and when used in other senses, having generally from this association, some idea of startling or unexpected appearance.)]
1. The action of appearing or becoming visible. a. The supernatural appearance of invisible beings, etc.
c. 1525–30. More, De quat. Noviss., Wks. 1557, 77/2. The apparicion of a very ghost.
1650. Fuller, Pisgah Sight, II. ix. 194. The first apparition God made to Abraham.
1703. Maundrell, Journ. Jerus. (1732), 105. That Apparition of the two Angels to the Apostles.
1725. trans. Dupin’s Eccl. Hist. 17th C., I. v. 49. The History of many Apparitions of the Cross.
1814. Scott, Wav., xiii. 56. Presbyterian divines put to the rout by a sudden apparition of the foul fiend.
b. Of a visitor; of a person, a comet, etc.
1652. Gaule, Magastrom., 18. The apparition of this starre in Bethlehem.
1794. Godwin, Cal. Williams, 2. I … contrived to satisfy my love of praise with an unfrequent apparition at their amusements.
1867. F. Parkman, Jesuits N. Amer., v. (1875), 45. Amazed at the apparition of the white stranger.
c. Appearance in history or before the world.
1860. Farrar, Orig. Lang., x. 216. The apparition of the main races of humanity.
1865. M. Arnold, Ess. Crit., 43. Jealous of the apparition of a new public body in the State.
2. Astr. The first appearance of a star or other celestial body after disappearance or occultation.
1556. Recorde, Cast. Knowl., 196. That owghte not to bee called proprelye rysynge of any Starre when it getteth oute of the Sonne beames, and maye shewe or shine … but it oughte rather to be called Apparition or appearynge.
1660. Stanley, Hist. Philos., 330/1. The apparition of the Dog-star is its rising together with the Sun.
1751. Chambers, Cycl., Apparition, in astronomy … stands opposed to occultation.
1859. Sir J. Herschel, Astron., § 567 (ed. 5). The intervals of these successive apparitions being 75 and 76 years.
† 3. The manifestation of Christ; the Epiphany; the festival or season commemorating it. (Apparitio = Epiphania in Du Cange.) Obs.
1652. Sparke, Prim. Devot. (1663), 142. Epiphania … the day of Apparition or manifestation of Christ from above.
1681. Wharton, Fasts & Fest., Wks. 1683, 23. The Epiphany, or Apparition, or the Feast of Twelfthday after Christmass.
1703. Maundrell, Journ. Jerus. (1721), 72. The Chappel of the Apparition.
† 4. Manifestation, demonstration, display.
1533. Bellenden, Livy, IV. (1822), 312. Commandit ane army to be rasit with na les apparicioun and magnificence than it wes afore.
1590. Greene, Neuer too late (1600), 11. No vaineglorious shewes Of royall apparition for the eye.
1627. E. F., Hist. Edw. II. (1680), 5. The melancholy apparitions of their parting, gave the world a firm belief that this inchanting Mountebank had in the Cabinet of his Masters heart, too dear a room and being.
5. Astr. The state or condition of being manifest to sight, or of being visible; esp. the visibility of a star, planet or comet.
1601. Holland, Pliny (1634), I. 9. The Moone … shines the first day of her apparition, 3/4 parts, and the foure and twentieth part of an hour.
1635. Swan, Spec. Mundi, v. § 2 (1643), 129. The Rain-bow is … the apparition of certain colours.
1666. Phil. Trans., I. 301. Representations of its Head and Train in each day of its apparition.
1833. Sir J. Herschel, Astron., i. 61. The circle of perpetual apparition, between which and the elevated pole the stars never set.
† 6. A seeming to the eyes or mind, appearance, semblance. Obs.
1613. Sherley, Trav. Persia, 27. [Great] distinction between the effects of the world, and the workings of God … permanency in the last, and no more but apparition in the other.
1650. Weldon, Court K. James, 41. There was an apparition of Southamptons being a Favourite to his Majesty.
1667. Milton, P. L., VIII. 293. A dream, Whose inward apparition gently moved My fancy.
† 7. The form in which anything appears; aspect. Obs.
1610. Gwillim, Heraldry, III. iii. (1660), 110. According to the divers apparitions of the Moon, hath she her divers denominations in Heraldry.
1632. Brome, North. Lasse, I. iv. A Devil in a most Gentlewoman-like apparition.
1660. Boyle, New Exp. Phys.-Mech., xxxvii. 307. By their whiteishness, to emulate in some measure the apparition of Light.
8. That which appears; an appearance, especially of a remarkable or unexpected kind; a phenomenon.
1481. Caxton, Myrr., III. ix. 151. Tholomeus, whiche knewe so many demonstraunces of apparicions and so moche loued astronomye.
1587. Fleming, Contn. Holinshed, III. 356/2. To look for some strange apparition or vision in the aire.
1667. Milton, P. L., XI. 211. The heavenly bands … on a hill made halt, A glorious apparition.
1776. Gibbon, Decl. & F., I. xxi. 593. So strange an apparition excited his surprise and indignation.
1865. Livingstone, Zambesi, iii. 79. The steamer was such a terrible apparition to them.
9. spec. An immaterial appearance as of a real being; a specter, phantom or ghost. (The ordinary current sense.)
1601. Shaks., Jul. C., IV. iii. 277. I thinke it is the weakenesse of mine eyes That shapes this monstrous Apparition.
1685. Luttrell, Brief Rel., I. 338. A common report … of some apparition that walks at Whitehall.
1742. Young, Nt. Th., I. 120. The land of apparitions, empty shades!
1820. W. Irving, Sketch Bk., II. 348. The dominant spirit … is the apparition of a figure on horseback without a head.
b. transf. or fig.
c. 1845. Hood, Wint. Nosegay, ii. The very apparition of a plant.
1848. H. Miller, First Impress., xi. (1857), 178. The apparition of vanished states of things.
† 10. A deceptive appearance counterfeiting reality; an illusion, a sham. Obs.
1610. Healey, St. Aug., City of God, 662. That which man can doe with true collours, the Divell can do with apparitions.
1679. Penn, Addr. Prot., Pref. Without which Religion is a Cypher … an Apparition at most: No solid or valid thing.
