Free TranslationFree Translation
Synonyms, antonyms, pronunciation

  Home 		English Dictionary      examples: 'day', 'get rid of', 'New York Bay'




Figure   /fˈɪgjər/   Listen
noun
Figure  n.  
1.
The form of anything; shape; outline; appearance. "Flowers have all exquisite figures."
2.
The representation of any form, as by drawing, painting, modeling, carving, embroidering, etc.; especially, a representation of the human body; as, a figure in bronze; a figure cut in marble. "A coin that bears the figure of an angel."
3.
A pattern in cloth, paper, or other manufactured article; a design wrought out in a fabric; as, the muslin was of a pretty figure.
4.
(Geom.) A diagram or drawing, made to represent a magnitude or the relation of two or more magnitudes; a surface or space inclosed on all sides; called superficial when inclosed by lines, and solid when inclosed by surfaces; any arrangement made up of points, lines, angles, surfaces, etc.
5.
The appearance or impression made by the conduct or career of a person; as, a sorry figure. "I made some figure there." "Gentlemen of the best figure in the county."
6.
Distinguished appearance; magnificence; conspicuous representation; splendor; show. "That he may live in figure and indulgence."
7.
A character or symbol representing a number; a numeral; a digit; as, 1, 2,3, etc.
8.
Value, as expressed in numbers; price; as, the goods are estimated or sold at a low figure. (Colloq.) "With nineteen thousand a year at the very lowest figure."
9.
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."
10.
(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 plainest form of statement. Also called a figure of speech. "To represent the imagination under the figure of a wing."
11.
(Logic) The form of a syllogism with respect to the relative position of the middle term.
12.
(Dancing) Any one of the several regular steps or movements made by a dancer.
13.
(Astrol.) A horoscope; the diagram of the aspects of the astrological houses.
14.
(Music)
(a)
Any short succession of notes, either as melody or as a group of chords, which produce a single complete and distinct impression.
(b)
A form of melody or accompaniment kept up through a strain or passage; a musical phrase or motive; a florid embellishment. Note: 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: 2/22/42/8 4/22/44/8 3/23/43/8 6/46/46/8
Academy figure, Canceled figures, Lay figure, etc. See under Academy, Cancel, Lay, etc.
Figure caster, or Figure flinger, an astrologer. "This figure caster."
Figure flinging, the practice of astrology.
Figure painting, a picture of the human figure, or the act or art of depicting the human figure.
Figure stone (Min.), agalmatolite.
Figure weaving, the art or process of weaving figured fabrics.
To cut a figure, to make a display. (Colloq.)


verb
Figure  v. t.  (past & past part. figured; pres. part. figuring)  
1.
To represent by a figure, as to form or mold; to make an image of, either palpable or ideal; also, to fashion into a determinate form; to shape. "If love, alas! be pain I bear," "No thought can figure, and no tongue declare.Prior."
2.
To embellish with design; to adorn with figures. "The vaulty top of heaven Figured quite o'er with burning meteors."
3.
To indicate by numerals; also, to compute. "As through a crystal glass the figured hours are seen."
4.
To represent by a metaphor; to signify or symbolize. "Whose white vestments figure innocence."
5.
To prefigure; to foreshow. "In this the heaven figures some event."
6.
(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 solve; to compute or find the result of.
To figure up, to add; to reckon; to compute the amount of.


Figure  v. i.  
1.
To make a figure; to be distinguished or conspicious; as, the envoy figured at court. "Sociable, hospitable, eloquent, admired, figuring away brilliantly."
2.
To calculate; to contrive; to scheme; as, he is figuring to secure the nomination. (Colloq.)
go figure a phrase used by itself as an interjection to mean "How can one explain that?", or to express puzzlement over some seeming contradiction. (Colloq.)





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


Advanced search
     Find words:
Starting with
Ending with
Containing
Matching a pattern  

Synonyms
Antonyms
Quotes
Words linked to  

only single words


Share |




"Figure" Quotes from Famous Books



... despatch from some paper or journal. She is no longer young, and there are marks of much care and trouble on her forehead; but she has still a pleasing expression upon her features, her hands are exquisitely white, and her figure, once really good, retains some of the outline that rendered it beautiful. Wherever you saw her you would say, That is a lady. But her dress, tasteful though it be, is made of the cheapest material, and looks, indeed, as if it had been ...
— Hodge and His Masters • Richard Jefferies
... wearying burdens. But he was all that, and even more than that. And, therefore, to us who look back upon our history as a diocese from the close of one century, to those who shall look back upon it from the close of another, nay, in all time, its central figure must be that massive one with which the limner's skill has made us all familiar, as it stands facing wind and storm, supported by the Word of God, which, in its turn, rests on the everlasting rock; the figure of him by whom the God of our fathers said to our "Jerusalem, ...
— Report Of Commemorative Services With The Sermons And Addresses At The Seabury Centenary, 1883-1885. • Diocese Of Connecticut
... fellows and fawn over some scrub. My experience teaches me that when there's a woman in it, it's haphazard pot luck with no telling which way the cat will hop. You can't play any system, and merit cuts little figure in general results." ...
— The Log of a Cowboy - A Narrative of the Old Trail Days • Andy Adams
... shuffling step, wherefore he arose and crossing to the shadows of the choir, sat him down within the deeper gloom to wait until his disturber should be gone. Slowly these halting steps advanced, feet that stumbled oft; near they came and nearer, until Beltane perceived a tall figure whose armour gleamed dully and whose shoulders were bowed like one that is ...
— Beltane The Smith • Jeffery Farnol
... philosophical maxims placed in the mouth of a personage of tragedy or of comedy, perform there the function, not of concepts, but of characteristics of such personage; in the same way as the red in a painted figure does not there represent the red colour of the physicists, but is a characteristic element of the portrait. The whole it is that determines the quality of the parts. A work of art may be full of philosophical concepts; it may contain them in greater abundance ...
— Aesthetic as Science of Expression and General Linguistic • Benedetto Croce


More quotes...


Copyright © 2025 e-Free Translation.com