ignis fatuus
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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
Many fortunes have been spent by the unscientific in the chase after this, to them, ignis fatuus.
XII.298.We are concerned not with names but with things, so that Dr. Hort may give his ignis fatuus what appellation he likes, only why he calls it Syrian it is hard to determine.
From A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament, Vol. II. by Scrivener, Frederick Henry Ambrose
Fallen trees were magnified into guns and mortars; variegated bushes into soldiers; the light between the trees into flags; and the midnight ignis fatuus, on its nocturnal rambles, into torches and lights of the enemy.
From Memoirs of the Extraordinary Military Career of John Shipp Late a Lieut. in His Majesty's 87th Regiment by Shipp, John
Nor he, nor any of the brave Plantagenets ever came to Ireland, for they were pursuing an ignis fatuus in France, instead of attending to their own business at home.
From My Lords of Strogue, Vol. I (of III) A Chronicle of Ireland, from the Convention to the Union by Wingfield, Lewis
