idol image of a deity XIII; object of devotion; phantom, fiction XVI. ME. ydel, ydol — OF. id(e)le, (also mod.) idole — L. īdōlum image, form, apparition, (eccl.) idol — Gr. eidōlon (same meanings), f. eîdos form, shape (cf. IDEA).
So idolater XVI. Earlier †idolatrer, †-trour (XIV), either f. (O)F. idolâtre + -ER1', -our, -OR1', or f. idolatry; the present form was either a phonetic reduction of idolatrer or — F. idolâtre, ult. — Gr. eidōlolátrēs (latreúein worship). idolatry XIII, idolize XVI, idolatrous XVI.

i·dol / ˈīdl/ • n. an image or representation of a god used as an object of worship. ∎  a person or thing that is greatly admired, loved, or revered: movie idol Robert Redford.

idol an image or representation of a god used as an object of worship; in extended usage, a person or thing that is greatly admired, loved, or revered. Recorded from Middle English, the word comes via Old French from Latin idolum ‘image, form’, used in ecclesiastical Latin in the sense ‘idol’, ultimately from Greek eidos ‘form, shape’.
idols of the tribe, cave, market, and theatre four classes of fallacies referred by Bacon (1620) respectively to limitations of human mind, prejudices of idiosyncrasy, influence of words, philosophical and logical prepossessions.