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Webster's Dictionary (1865)

3 entries under this word

Figure

Fig'ūre, n.

noun

(fig'yūr, 53), n. [Lat. figura, from fingere, root fig, to form, shape; Fr. figure, Pr., Sp., Pg., & It. figura.] 1. The form of any thing; shape; fashion; outline; structure; appearance; hence, an imaginary phantom.

Enjoy the heavy honey-dew of slumber; Thou hast no figures, nor no fantasies. Shak.

Sense 2. The representation of any form by drawing, painting, modeling, carving, or embroidering; especially, a representation of the human body; as, a figure in bronze; an image; a bodiless image; a statue; a diagram; a drawing; ornamental shape.

His bonnet sedge Inwrought with figures dim. Milton.

Sense 3. A pattern copied in cloth, paper, or some other manufactured article; a design wrought out in a fabric. “A coin that bears the figure of an angel.” Shak.

Sense 4. The appearance or impression made by the conduct or career of a person; as, a sorry figure.

Sense 5. Distinguished appearance or magnificence. [Rare.] “That he may live in figure and indulgence.” Law.

Sense 6. A character standing for, or representing, a number; a numeral; a digit; as, 1, 2, 3, &c.

Sense 7. Value, as expressed in numbers; price; as, the goods are estimated or sold at a low figure.

Sense 8. A person, thing, or action, conceived of as analogous to another person, thing, or action, of which it thus becomes a type or representative.

Who is the figure of Him that was to come. Rom. v. 14.

Sense 9. (Rhet.) A mode of expressing abstract or immaterial ideas by words which suggest pictures or images from the physical world; pictorial language; a trope; hence, any deviation from the strict rules of grammar. “To represent the imagination under the figure of a wing.” Macaulay.

Sense 10. (Logic.) The form of a syllogism with respect to the relative position of the middle term.

Sense 11. (Dancing.) Any one of the several regular sorts of movement made by the feet and limbs of a dancer.

To cut a figure, to make a figure, to perform a distinguished or conspicuous part; to attract attention either in wonder or admiration. W. Scott.

Figures are often written upon the staff in music to denote the kind of measure. They are usually in the form of a fraction, the upper figure showing how many notes of the kind indicated by the lower are contained in one measure or bar. Thus, 2/4 signifies that the measure contains two quarter notes. The following are the principal figures used for this purpose:—

2/2 2/4 2/8 4/2 4/4 4/8 3/2 3/4 3/8 6/2 6/4 6/8

Fig'ū're, v. t.

verbtransitive

(fig'yur), v. t. [imp. & p. p. FIGURED; p. pr. & vb. n. FIGURING.] [Fr. figurer, Pr., Sp., & Pg. figurar, It. & Lat. figurare, from Lat. figura. See supra.]

Sense 1. To represent by a figure, as to form or mold; to make an image of, by drawing or modeling.

Sense 2. To embellish with designs; to mark upon. “My figured goblet.” Shak.

The vaulty top of heaven Figured quite o’er with burning meteors. Shak.

Sense 3. To indicate by numerals; also, to calculate. As through a crystal glass the figured hours are seen. Dryden.

Sense 4. To state or represent by a metaphor; to signify or symbolize.

Whose white vestments figure innocence. Shak.

Sense 5. To image in the mind.

Sense 6. To prefigure; to foreshow.

In this the heavens figure some event. Shak.

Sense 7. (Mus.) (a.) To write over or under the bass, as figures or other characters, in order to indicate the accompanying chords. (b.) To embellish.

To figure out, to find the amount of by computation.— To figure up, to add; to reckon.

Fig'ûre, v. i.

verbintransitive

To make a figure; to be distinguished; as, the envoy figured at the court of St. Cloud.