Definition of Symbol

Sylph

SYMBOL noun

	Something that is supposed to typify or stand for something else. Many symbols are mere 'survivals' -- things which having no longer any utility continue to exist because we have inherited the tendency to make them; as funereal urns carved on memorial monuments. They were once real urns holding the ashes of the dead. We cannot stop making them, but we can give them a name that conceals our helplessness.

		definition from: *The Devil's Dictionary* by Ambrose Bierce, 1911

Symbolic

Last updated: 9/3/2011 12:48:30