Other forms: mirages
A mirage is a false pool of water seen shimmering in the heat. A desert mirage, chase a mirage, it was only a mirage.
It is a real optical effect rather than an illusion of the mind: hot air near the ground bends light upwards, so you see the sky reflected and take it for water. Cameras record it. Figuratively a mirage is a hope that vanishes as you approach.
1nounmirageA false pool of water seen in the heat.
“In the desert heat, the road ahead seemed to shimmer with water, but it was only a mirage.”
mirage is an optical effect.
French mirage comes from mirer, to look at, from Latin mirari, to wonder at. Mirror and admire are relatives.
French
mirage
English, today
mirage
An French mirage c. 1812.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA