Definition of "phantasy"

What generous self-sacrifice—what a world of gentle affection, were now called forth in Emily by a moment's phantasy, whose life depended on that frailest of frail things, a coquette's vanity!

1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXIV, in Romance and Reality. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], page 319

Yet his passion for her had grown fiercer than ever, and he swore to himself that he would win her back from her phantasies.

1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide

[…] what man has hitherto known only in febrile phantasy and tenuous legend?

1931 November–December, H. P. Lovecraft, The Shadow Over Innsmouth

By later Kleinians and critics alike, phantasy is often seen as identical to Freud's concept of psychic reality.

1987, Juliet Mitchell, “Introduction”, in Selected Melanie Klein, page 22

However, Klein's phantasy is not exactly Lacan's imaginary fantasy; it is, I think, more than that.

2013, Lene Austed, quoting Jonathan Davidoff, “Introducing Psychoanalysis and Politics”, in Nationalism and the Body Politic, page 262