Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Phenakistoscope \Phen`a*kis"to*scope\, n. [Gr. ? a deceiver +
   -scope.]
   A revolving disk on which figures drawn in different relative
   attitudes are seen successively, so as to produce the
   appearance of an object in actual motion, as an animal
   leaping, etc., in consequence of the persistence of the
   successive visual impressions of the retina. It is often
   arranged so that the figures may be projected upon a screen.