imagines

< /ɪˈmeɪ gəˌniz, ɪˈmɑ-/.

1. Entomology. an adult insect.
2. Psychoanalysis. an idealized concept of a loved one, formed in childhood and retained unaltered in adult life.

verb

1. (when tr, may take a clause as object) to form a mental image of
2. (when tr, may take a clause as object) to think, believe, or guess
3. (tr; takes a clause as object) to suppose; assumeI imagine he’ll come
4. (tr; takes a clause as object) to believe or assume without foundationhe imagines he knows the whole story
5. an archaic word for plot 1

sentence substitute

6. Also: imagine that! an exclamation of surprise

noun plural imagoes or imagines (ɪˈmædʒəˌniːz)

1. an adult sexually mature insect produced after metamorphosis
2. psychoanal an idealized image of another person, usually a parent, acquired in childhood and carried in the unconscious in later life

v.

mid-14c., “to form a mental image of,” from Old French imaginer “sculpt, carve, paint; decorate, embellish” (13c.), from Latin imaginari “to form a mental picture to oneself, imagine” (also, in Late Latin imaginare “to form an image of, represent”), from imago (see image). Sense of “suppose” is first recorded late 14c. Related: Imagined; imagining.

n.

1797, from Latin imago “image” (see image).

n. pl. i•ma•goes

1. An insect in its sexually mature adult stage after metamorphosis.
2. An often idealized image of a person, usually a parent, formed in childhood and persisting unconsciously into adulthood.
3. archetype

Plural imagoes imagines (ĭ-mā′gə-nēz′)

1. An insect in its sexually mature adult stage after metamorphosis. Compare larva nymph pupa.