Definition

an image-sacrifice, i.e. part of an idolatrous offering

Etymology

neuter of a compound of G1497 (εἴδωλον) and a presumed derivative of G2380 (θύω);

Where the KJV renders it

• (meat
• thing that is) offered (in sacrifice
• sacrificed) to (unto) idols

Every distinct English word the King James Version uses to translate this Greek term. The variety shows what readers in English receive across many different surface words — the same underlying word, scattered across the English Bible under different names.

What the first audience heard

A deep-dive treatment of this word is in the works. The featured chapter above carries the long form of what this word meant to its first audience.