See Also: figure(2)(dictionary)
Figure(finance)
lay figure(dictionary)
At the figure(finance)
Figure(money)
At the figure(money)
figure(1)(dictionary)
Figure(medicine)
figure eight(medicine)
six-figure(dictionary)

figure(1) (iou)



figure noun. ME.
[Old & mod. French from Latin figura, from base of fingere to fashion: see -URE.]
I. Form, shape.
a. The proper or distinctive form of a person or thing. ME-E17.
b. gen. The external form or shape of something. LME.
Geometry. A definite form consisting of a two-dimensional space enclosed by a line or lines or a three-dimensional space enclosed by a surface or surfaces; any of the classes of these, as the triangle, circle, cube, etc. ME.
A. Koestler A geometrical figure on the blackboard.
A person considered as a visible form. ME.
L. Hellman A figure in the distance running up and down the beach. R. Ellison A figure in a nightmare which the sleeper tries..to destroy.
b. A person as an object of mental contemplation. M18.
Isaiah Berlin Its most venerated figure, a cultivated, fastidious, and morally sensitive scholar. K. Ishiguro All groups of pupils tend to have a leader figure.
The bodily shape or bodily frame of a person etc. LME.
T. Dreiser Her rather slim and as yet undeveloped figure. Day Lewis Nor can I recall his face or figure.
a. Style of living, esp. ostentatious living. arch. E17.
b. Importance, distinction; personal rank or standing. Now chiefly in man of figure, woman of figure. arch. L17.
II. Represented form, likeness.
The image or representation of something material or immaterial. ME.
Burke He is their standard figure of perfection.
b. An imaginary form. LME-L16.
A representation of the human form in sculpture, painting, etc.; a statue, a portrait. ME.
K. Clark Round the merchants' church..are life-size figures of the saints. J. Berger The porcelain figure of the shepherdess.
An emblem, a type. ME.
C. Cartwright The Rock..was a Type and a Figure of Christ.
a. A person acting a part. Only in LME.
b. A part enacted, a represented character. Also, a position, capacity. E17-E18.
III. A written character.
A numerical symbol, esp. each of the ten used in arabic notation. ME.
L. P. Hartley He felt disinclined to go on totting up figures. S. Weinberg Wavelengths given..to eight significant figures.
b. A number, amount of money, or value, expressed in figures. M19.
J. F. Kennedy The tremendous figures that the Germans were spending.
c. In pl. Arithmetical calculations. E20.
d. Cricket. In pl. A bowler's average. M20.
gen. A letter of the alphabet, a symbol for a musical note, a mathematical symbol, or other written character. L16-M17.
IV. Devised form; design.
A diagram, an illustrative drawing. (Freq. abbreviated to fig.) LME.
Astrology. A diagram of the aspects of the astrological houses; a horoscope. LME.
An ornamental arrangement of lines or other markings; a decorative pattern. L16.
b. spec. The pattern formed by the grain and knots in wood. L19.
An evolution or set of evolutions in dancing. Also, one of the divisions of a set dance. M19.
F. Norris A square dance was under way, the leader of the city band calling the figures.
Skating. A movement or series of movements following a prescribed pattern and often beginning and ending at the same point. M19.
b. A movement in formation flying or swimming following a prescribed pattern. M20.
V. Repr. Greek skhema form.
Logic. The form of a syllogism as determined by the position of the middle term. LME.
Music. A short succession of notes which produce a single impression; a brief melodic or rhythmic motif out of which longer passages are developed. LME.
More fully figure of speech. A form of rhetorical expression which gives beauty, variety, force, etc., to a composition, as metaphor or hyperbole. LME.
S. Sontag My subject is not physical illness itself but the uses of illness as a figure or metaphor.
b. A metaphor, a metaphorical expression. LME.
(Usu. Figure.) In pl. (The name of) a class in a Roman Catholic school, college, or seminary, now only spec. the second class, immediately above Elements and below Rudiments, in certain Jesuit Schools. E17.
Grammar. Any of the standard deviations from the normal forms of words, as elision, or from the rules of construction, as ellipsis. E17.
Phrases etc.: cut a figure = make a figure below. double figures: see DOUBLE adjective & adverb. facts and figures: see FACT. father-figure: see FATHER noun. figure four (trap) an animal trap with a trigger set in the shape of a figure 4. figure of EIGHT. figure of four (trap) = figure four trap above. figure of fun a grotesque or ridiculous person. figure of merit a numerical expression taken as representing the performance or efficiency of a given device or material. four-figure: see two-figure below. four figures: see two figures below. go the whole figure US do something thoroughly, go the whole hog. keep one's figure not grow stout. make a figure (a) (with qualifying adjective) present a specified appearance, create a particular impression; (b) play a prominent or important part. mother-figure: see MOTHER noun1. parent-figure: see PARENT noun. public figure: see PUBLIC adjective & noun. significant figure: see SIGNIFICANT adjective 1c. three-figure: see two-figure below. three figures: see two figures below. two-figure, three-figure, four-figure, etc. adjectives designating or involving (a) numbers respectively between 10 and 99, 100 and 999, 1000 and 9999, etc.; (b) numbers expressed to two, three, four, etc., significant figures. two figures, three figures, four figures, etc., a total between 10 and 99, 100 and 999, 1000 and 9999, etc.
Comb.: figure-caster (a) (now rare) a person who casts horoscopes; (b) a person who performs numerical calculations; figure-casting the action or practice of casting horoscopes; figure-dance a dance consisting of several distinct figures or divisions; figure-dancer a performer in a figure-dance; figure-flinger (long rare) = figure-caster (a) above; figure-floating the formation of set patterns by a group of swimmers floating in the water; figure-skater a person who practises figure-skating; figure-skating the art or practice of skating in figures or set patterns; figure weaving weaving of cloth with individual patterns or figures in it.
figureless adjective without figure or a figure E17.