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avatar

 - 5 dictionary results

av·a·tar

   [av-uh-tahr, av-uh-tahr]
–noun
1.
Hindu Mythology. the descent of a deity to the earth in an incarnate form or some manifest shape; the incarnation of a god.
2.
an embodiment or personification, as of a principle, attitude, or view of life.
3.
Computers. a graphical image that represents a person, as on the Internet.
Use avatar in a Sentence
Origin:
1775–85; < Skt avatāra a passing down, equiv. to ava down + -tāra a passing over
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.
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World English Dictionary
avatar (ˈævəˌtɑː) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
—n
1.  Hinduism the manifestation of a deity, notably Vishnu, in human, superhuman, or animal form
2.  a visible manifestation or embodiment of an abstract concept; archetype
3.  a movable image that represents a person in a virtual reality environment or in cyberspace
 
[C18: from Sanskrit avatāra a going down, from avatarati he descends, from ava down + tarati he passes over]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Word Origin & History

avatar
1784, "descent of a Hindu deity," from Skt. avatarana "descent" (of a deity to the earth in incarnate form), from ava- "down" + base of tarati "(he) crosses over." In computer use, it seems to trace to the novel "Snowcrash" (1992) by Neal Stephenson.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Cultural Dictionary
avatar [(av-uh-tahr)]

In Hinduism, a god made visibly present, especially in a human form. The Buddha is considered an avatar of the god Vishnu.

Note: By extension, an “avatar” is any new embodiment of an old idea.
The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Computing Dictionary

avatar definition


1. An image representing a user in a multi-user virtual reality (or VR-like, in the case of Palace) space.
2. (CMU, Tektronix) root, superuser. There are quite a few Unix computers on which the name of the superuser account is "avatar" rather than "root". This quirk was originated by a CMU hacker who disliked the term "superuser", and was propagated through an ex-CMU hacker at Tektronix.
[Jargon File]
(1997-09-14)

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © Denis Howe 2010 http://foldoc.org
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