.: the bojicas

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) :

avatar

1. An image representing a user in a multi-user virtual reality (or VR-like, in the case of Palace) space.
2. (CMU, Tektronix) root, superuser. There are quite a few Unix computers on which the name of the superuser account is “avatar” rather than “root”. This quirk was originated by a CMU hacker who disliked the term “superuser”, and was propagated through an ex-CMU hacker at Tektronix.

[Jargon File]
(1997-09-14)

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

Avatar \Av`a*tar”\ ([a^]v`[.a]*t[add]r”), n. [Skr. avat[^a]ra descent; ava from + root t[.r] to cross, pass over.]

1. (Hindu Myth.) The descent of a deity to earth, and his incarnation as a man or an animal; — chiefly associated with the incarnations of Vishnu. [1913 Webster]
2. An incarnation, embodiment or personification of a principle, quality, or attitude; — used of people, mostly in a positive sense as a manifestation of a behavior or character worthy of admiration. [1913 Webster +PJC]

Martha Stewart, the home-and-hearth avatar whose products are now available at Kmart stores, is making upscale design touches like 200-thread-count cotton bed sheets something that most every American can aspire to. –Leslie Kaufman (N. Y. Times, May 7, 1999).

[1913 Webster]

Source: dict.org