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.
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.
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.
Fig"ure, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Figured (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Figuring.]
[F. figurer, L. figurare, fr. figura. See Figure, n.] 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.