similitude

noun similitudes

1. uncountable Similarity or resemblance to something else. So am I tossed on the ebbing tide of life—now in sunshine, now in shade—seemingly free, yet, in reality, fettered by the strong, though slight chain of circumstance. For a small sum, any passenger may enter that boat and direct its course; and here again is similitude. I am at the beck of others.
2. countable A way in which two people or things share similitude. Renaissance man thought in terms of 'similitudes': the theatre of life, the mirror of nature. […] Aemulation was similitude within distance: the sky resembled a face because it had “eyes” — the sun and moon.
3. countable Someone or something that closely resembles another; a duplicate or twin. But others declare that no Creature can be made or tranſmuted into a better or vvorſe, or transformed into another ſpecies or ſimilitude, by man, or devill. […] Martinus [i.e., Martin] Delrio the Jeſuit accounts this degeneration of Man into a Beaſt to be an illuſion, deceptive and repugnant to Natu
4. countable, uncountable A parable or allegory. And he spake many thynges to them in similitudes, sayinge: Beholde, the sower wentt forth to sowe, And as he sowed, some fell by the wayes side [...].
5. countable A similarity: a transformation of Euclidean space that preserves angles and the ratios of distances.