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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


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"Figure" Quotes from Famous Books



... bought a few cattle and horses, and built and occupied a ranch at the stage-road crossing of Lance Creek, midway between the Platte and Deadwood, in the very heart of the Sioux country. Boone was then well under thirty, graceful of figure, dark-haired, wore a slender downy moustache that served only to emphasize his youth, but possessed that reserve and repose of manner most typical of the ...
— The Red-Blooded Heroes of the Frontier • Edgar Beecher Bronson
... details with you a little later. We shall have plenty of time during the next month or six weeks, and, incidentally, a good bit more privacy. The thing I'm trying to figure out will burst like a bubble if it gets itself made public too soon, and"—lowering his voice—"I can't trust my office force ...
— Empire Builders • Francis Lynde
... wrinkle-browed, grizzly-bearded, care-worn merchant,—we have the smart young clerk, who gets the taste of traffic as a wolf-cub does of blood, and already sends adventures in his master's ships, when he had better be sailing mimic-boats upon a mill-pond. Another figure in the scene is the outward-bound sailor in quest of a protection; or the recently arrived one, pale and feeble, seeking a passport to the hospital. Nor must we forget the captains of the rusty little schooners that bring firewood from ...
— The Scarlet Letter • Nathaniel Hawthorne
... most interesting figure of the Whig Party, III. his record, III. his power as an orator, III. his duel with Randolph, III. his wit, III. a pleader for the Missouri Compromise, III. forces the bank question forward, III. opposes annexation ...
— History of the United States, Volume 6 (of 6) • E. Benjamin Andrews
... his chair, he drove away this boy with his pointed oak stick, and with some harsh words about caring for the horse and being on time in the morning, he sent him out into the mist. As this little shivering and pathetic figure vanished, the old man drew, with gasp and haw, a number of deep breaths which shook his bent back and did their share, no doubt, in restoring his own disturbed circulation. Then, with a sinister twist which brought his pointed ...
— The House in the Mist • Anna Katharine Green


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