From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Figure \Fig"ure\ (f[i^]g"[-u]r; 135), noun [F., figure, L. figura; akin to fingere to form, shape, feign. See {Feign}.]
1. The form of anything; shape; outline; appearance.
Flowers have all exquisite figures. --Bacon.
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. --Shak.
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. --Dryden.
Gentlemen of the best figure in the county. --Blackstone.
6. Distinguished appearance; magnificence; conspicuous representation; splendor; show.
That he may live in figure and indulgence. --Law.
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. --Thackeray.
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. --Rom. v. 14.
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. --Macaulay.
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. --Johnson.
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. --Grove. (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.'' --Milton.
{Figure flinging}, the practice of astrology.
{Figure-of-eight knot}, a knot shaped like the figure 8. See Illust. under {Knot}.
{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.] --Sir W. Scott.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Figure \Fig"ure\, verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Figured}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Figuring}.] [F. figurer, L. figurare, fr. figura. See {Figure}, noun]
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. --Shak.
3. To indicate by numerals; also, to compute.
As through a crystal glass the figured hours are seen. --Dryden.
4. To represent by a metaphor; to signify or symbolize.
Whose white vestments figure innocence. --Shak.
In this the heaven figures some event. --Shak.
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.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Figure \Fig"ure\, verb (used without an object)
1. To make a figure; to be distinguished or conspicious; as, the envoy figured at court.
Sociable, hospitable, eloquent, admired, figuring away brilliantly. --M. Arnold.
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.] [PJC]
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
noun
1: a diagram or picture illustrating textual material; "the area covered can be seen from Figure 2" [syn: {fig}]
2: alternative names for the body of a human being; "Leonardo studied the human body"; "he has a strong physique"; "the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak" [syn: {human body}, {physical body}, {material body}, {soma}, {build}, {physique}, {anatomy}, {shape}, {bod}, {chassis}, {frame}, {form}, {flesh}]
3: one of the elements that collectively form a system of numbers; "0 and 1 are digits" [syn: {digit}]
4: a model of a bodily form (especially of a person); "he made a figure of Santa Claus"
5: a well-known or notable person; "they studied all the great names in the history of France"; "she is an important figure in modern music" [syn: {name}, {public figure}]
6: a combination of points and lines and planes that form a visible palpable shape
7: an amount of money expressed numerically; "a figure of $17 was suggested"
8: the impression produced by a person; "he cut a fine figure"; "a heroic figure"
9: the property possessed by a sum or total or indefinite quantity of units or individuals; "he had a number of chores to do"; "the number of parameters is small"; "the figure was about a thousand" [syn: {number}]
10: language used in a figurative or nonliteral sense [syn: {trope}, {figure of speech}, {image}]
11: a unitary percept having structure and coherence that is the object of attention and that stands out against a ground [ant: {ground}]
12: a decorative or artistic work; "the coach had a design on the doors" [syn: {design}, {pattern}]
13: a predetermined set of movements in dancing or skating; "she made the best score on compulsory figures"
verb
1: judge to be probable [syn: {calculate}, {estimate}, {reckon}, {count on}, {forecast}]
2: be or play a part of or in; "Elections figure prominently in every government program"; "How do the elections figure in the current pattern of internal politics?" [syn: {enter}]
3: imagine; conceive of; see in one's mind; "I can't see him on horseback!"; "I can see what will happen"; "I can see a risk in this strategy" [syn: {visualize}, {visualise}, {envision}, {project}, {fancy}, {see}, {picture}, {image}]
4: make a mathematical calculation or computation [syn: {calculate}, {cipher}, {cypher}, {compute}, {work out}, {reckon}]
5: understand; "He didn't figure her"
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
715 Moby Thesaurus words for "figure": Aristotelian sorites, Establishment, Goclenian sorites, Platonic body, Platonic form, Platonic idea, VIP, accept, acclaim, acknowledge, act, acute-angled triangle, add, adornment, adumbrate, advert to, aesthetic form, algebraize, allude to, amount, anacrusis, anatomy, angle, apparition, appear, appearance, appraise, appreciate, archetype, aroma, arrange, art form, asiaticism, aspect, assess, assume, attribute, background, background detail, badge, baron, bass passage, be conspicuous, be demonstrable, be featured, be irrefutable, be logical, be reasonable, be somebody, be something, be taken as, bead, beauties, bejewel, believe, beribbon, bespangle, big gun, big man, big name, bigwig, binary digit, bit, blazon, block out, blueprint, bod, body, body forth, body-build, bones, bourdon, brand, brass, brass hat, bravura, bridge, brilliancy, brouillon, build, burden, bust, cachet, cadence, calculate, call, carcass, cartoon, carve, carving, cast, catch on to, categorical syllogism, celebrity, character, characteristic, charge, chart, chassis, chisel, chorus, cipher, class, clay, clod, coda, colors, colors of rhetoric, compute, concede, concert, conclude, configuration, conformation, consider, constellation, contour, contrive, copy, corpus, cost, count, count on, create, cube, cuboid, cusp, cut, cut a dash, cut a figure, cut out, cynosure, damage, daring, dash, decagon, decipher, decoration, decorative composition, decorative style, delineation, demonstrate, demonstration, denominate, denote, design, designate, detail, determine, development, device, devise, diagram, diamond, differentia, differential, dig, digit, dignitary, dignity, dilemma, display, distinctive feature, divide, division, dodecagon, dodecahedron, doll, dolly, dope out, draft, dramatics, drawing, dummy, earmark, ebauche, eclat, effect, effigy, efform, eidolon, elder, elegant variation, elevation, embellishment, emblem, emblematize, embody, embroidery, engrave, enthymeme, enumerate, equilateral triangle, esquisse, estimate, etalage, euphuism, evaluate, exemplify, exhibition, exhibitionism, expenditure, expense, exposition, extract roots, facet, false front, false image, fame, famousness, fanfaronade, fantasy, fantoccini, fashion, father, fathom, feather, feature, features, figuration, figurative language, figurativeness, figure in, figure of speech, figure on, figure out, figure up, figure-ground, figurehead, figurine, filigree, fine writing, finger, fix, flag, flair, flaunt, flaunting, flavor, flesh, floridity, floridness, flounce, flourish, flower, floweriness, flowers of speech, flowery style, foil, folderol, folk hero, foot, force, forecast, foreground detail, foreshadow, forge, form, form an estimate, formalize, format, formation, found, foursquare, frame, framework, frill, galaxy, garland, gauge, gem, genre, gestalt, get, gingerbread man, give an appreciation, gleam, glitter, glory, glow, gnomon, graph, grasp, great man, ground plan, guess, guise, gust, hallmark, harmonic close, heptagon, hero, heroine, hew, hexagon, hexahedron, histrionics, hold good, hold water, house plan, hulk, human being, hypercube, ichnography, icon, icosahedron, idiocrasy, idiosyncrasy, idol, idolum, illuminate, illustrate, illustration, image, imagery, imagine, imago, immortal, impersonate, important person, impress, impression, incarnate, index, individual, individualism, inner form, integer, intend, interests, interlude, intermezzo, interpret, introductory phrase, isosceles triangle, jewel, judge, keynote, knead, knock out, kudos, lay figure, lay out, lay plans, layout, leader, leitmotiv, lick into shape, light, likeness, lineaments, lines, lion, live, look, lords of creation, luminaries, luminary, lushness, luxuriance, magnate, main features, make, make a figure, make a projection, make a splash, make allowance for, make an estimation, make arrangements, make sense, makeup, man of mark, man of straw, manifestation, manikin, mannequin, manner, manner of speaking, mannerism, marionette, mark, marking, master spirit, material body, matrix, measure, metaphorize, methodize, mint, mirage, mirror, modality, mode, model, modus tollens, mogul, mold, monument, mood, motif, motive, mould, movement, multiply, musical phrase, musical sentence, nabob, name, national style, nature, nonliterality, nonliteralness, notability, notable, notation, notoriety, notoriousness, number, numeral, numerate, numero, oblong, obtuse-angled triangle, octagon, octahedron, odor, organize, ornament, ornamental motif, ornamentation, outline, oxygon, pageant, pageantry, paint, panjandrum, parade, parallelepiped, parallelogram, paralogism, part, participate, particularity, passage, pattern, peculiarity, pentagon, pentahedron, perceive, period, period style, person, person of note, person of renown, personage, personality, personalize, personate, personify, phantasm, phantasma, phantasmagoria, phantom, phase, phasis, phasm, phenomenon, phrase, physical body, physique, pick out, picture, pillar of society, plan, plan ahead, plan on, plate, pleiad, plot, plume, point at, point out, point to, polygon, polyhedron, pop hero, popular hero, popular idol, popularity, portrait bust, power, power elite, prearrange, prefigure, presence, presume, pretypify, price, price tag, prism, prismoid, prize, profile, program, project, projection, property, prosyllogism, prototype, pseudosyllogism, public figure, publicity, puppet, purple passage, purple patches, put faith in, pyramid, quadrangle, quadrant, quadrature, quadrilateral, quality, quirk, rank, rate, rationalize, realize, reckon, reclame, recognition, rectangle, refer to, reference, reflect, refrain, regard, relief, renown, repeated figure, report, representation, reputation, repute, resolution, resolve, respect, response, rhombohedron, rhomboid, rhombus, ribbon, ritornello, rough, rough out, roughcast, roughhew, rule, rule of deduction, ruling circle, sachem, savor, scarecrow, schedule, schematize, score, sculpt, sculpture, seal, section, see, seeming, select, semblance, set, set up, settle, shade, shadow, shadow forth, sham, shape, shapes, shine, show, showing-off, side, sign, significant form, silhouette, similize, simulacrum, singularity, skeleton, sketch, slant, smack, snowman, social lion, solve, soma, somebody, something, sorites, spangle, specialty, specify, spectacle, specter, splash, splurge, square, staginess, stamp, stand for, stand to reason, stanza, star, statement, statuary, statue, statuette, stigmatize, strain, structure, style, subject, subtract, sum, summate, superstar, suppose, syllogism, symbol, symbolize, systematize, tab, table, tailor, tailpiece, taint, take, take account of, take into account, take into consideration, tally, tang, taste, tetragon, tetragram, tetrahedron, the bubble reputation, the great, the top, theatrics, theme, thermoform, think, tinsel, token, top brass, top people, torso, tot, tot up, total, total effect, tote, touch, tournure, trait, translate, trapeze, trapezium, trapezoid, triangle, trick, trilateral, trope, trunk, trust in, turn, turn of expression, tutti, tutti passage, twig, twist, tycoon, type, typify, understand, valuate, value, variation, vaunt, verse, very important person, view, viewpoint, vision, vogue, waking dream, wax figure, waxwork, way of speaking, whole number, wildest dream, wise, wood carving, work, work out, work up, working drawing, worthy, wraith, wreathe
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