What exactly do we mean by image?

Below you will find 22 definitions for the word “image” reproduced from Dictionary.com . When the word image is used throughout this site, it could mean any one of them or all of them.

Except #12, we don’t do #12.

The context and symbology employed will provide the required nuance to develop understanding.

For those who like more specificity, The Image Nation of Numeria is a composition of the following definitions (3,4,5,7,10,13,15,20).

What’s that? Does the machine say it’s confused by multiple inputs?

noun

1. a physical likeness or representation of a person, animal, or thing, photographed, painted, sculptured, or otherwise made visible.
2. an optical counterpart or appearance of an object, as is produced by reflection from a mirror, refraction by a lens, or the passage of luminous rays through a small aperture and their reception on a surface.

3. a mental representation; idea; conception.
4. Psychology. a mental representation of something previously perceived, in the absence of the original stimulus.
5. form; appearance; semblance: We are all created in God’s image.
6. counterpart; copy:That child is the image of his mother.
7. a symbol; emblem.
8. the general or public perception of a company, public figure, etc., especially as achieved by careful calculation aimed at creating widespread goodwill.
9. a type; embodiment: Red-faced and angry, he was the image of frustration.
10. a description of something in speech or writing: Keats created some of the most beautiful images in the language.
11. Rhetoric. a figure of speech, especially a metaphor or a simile.
12. an idol or representation of a deity: They knelt down before graven images.
13. Mathematics. the point or set of points in the range corresponding to a designated point in the domain of a given function.
14. Archaic. an illusion or apparition.

SEE LESS

verb (used with object),im·aged, im·ag·ing.

15. to picture or represent in the mind; imagine; conceive.
16. to make an image of; portray in sculpture, painting, etc.

17. to project (photographs, film, etc.) on a surface:Familiar scenes were imaged on the screen.
18. to reflect the likeness of; mirror.
19. to set forth in speech or writing; describe.
20. to symbolize; typify.
21. to resemble.
22. Informal. to create an image for (a company, public figure, etc.):The candidate had to be imaged before being put on the campaign trail.
23. to transform (data) into an exact replica in a different form, as changing digital data to pixels for display on a screen or representing a medical scan of a body part in digital form.