English
figure
Etymology

From Middle English figure, borrowed from Old French figure, from Latin figūra, from fingō ("to form, shape, mold, fashion"), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeyǵʰ-.

Pronunciation
  • (RP) IPA: /ˈfɪɡə/
  • (America, Canada) IPA: /ˈfɪɡjɚ/, /ˈfɪɡɚ/
Noun

figure (plural figures)

  1. A drawing or diagram conveying information.
  2. The representation of any form, as by drawing, painting, modelling, carving, embroidering, etc.; especially, a representation of the human body.
    a figure in bronze; a figure cut in marble
    • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act II, scene vii]:
      a coin that bears the figure of an angel
  3. A person or thing representing a certain consciousness.
  4. The appearance or impression made by the conduct or career of a person.
    He cut a sorry figure standing there in the rain.
    • 1697, Virgil, translated by John Dryden, The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC ↗:
      I made some figure there.
    • 1765–1769, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, (please specify |book=I to IV), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC ↗:
      gentlemen of the best figure in the county
  5. (obsolete) Distinguished appearance; magnificence; conspicuous representation; splendour; show.
    • 1729, William Law, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life:
      that he may live in figure and indulgence
  6. A human figure, which dress or corset must fit to; the shape of a human body.
  7. A numeral.
  8. A number, an amount.
  9. A shape.
    a geometrical figure, a plane figure, ''a solid figure
    • 1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC ↗:
      Flowers have all exquisite figures.
  10. A visible pattern as in wood or cloth.
    The muslin was of a pretty figure.
  11. Any complex dance moveDance move.
    • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC ↗:
      Although the Celebrity was almost impervious to sarcasm, he was now beginning to exhibit visible signs of uneasiness, […] . It was with a palpable relief that he heard the first warning notes of the figure.
  12. A figure of speech.
    • 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 20, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC ↗:
      to represent the imagination under the figure of a wing
  13. (logic) The form of a syllogism with respect to the relative position of the middle term.
  14. (astrology) A horoscope; the diagram of the aspects of the astrological houses.
    • 1889, Franz Hartmann, The Principles of Astrological Geomancy:
      its quality, like those of all the rest, is determined by its position in the house of the astrological figure
  15. (music) Any short succession of notes, either as melody or as a group of chords, which produce a single complete and distinct impression.
    • 1888, George Grove, Beethoven's Nine Symphonies: Analytical Essays:
      Here, Beethoven limits the syncopations and modifications of rhythm which are so prominent in the first and third movements, and employs a rapid, busy, and most melodious figure in the Violins, which is irresistible in its gay and brilliant effect […]
  16. (music) A form of melody or accompaniment kept up through a strain or passage; a motif; a florid embellishment.
Related terms Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Verb

figure (figures, present participle figuring; simple past and past participle figured)

  1. (chiefly, US) To calculate, to solve a mathematical problem.
  2. (chiefly, US) To come to understand.
    I can’t figure if he’s telling the truth or lying.
  3. To think, to assume, to suppose, to reckon.
    • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act I, scene ii]:
      1. Gent. Thou art alwayes figuring diseases in me; but
      thou art full of error, I am sound.
    • 2023, John B. Wright, Fire Scars:
      “I know you figure me for a leftneck fool, correct?”
  4. (chiefly, US, intransitive) To be reasonable or predictable.
    It figures that somebody like him would be upset about the situation.
  5. (intransitive) To enter into; to be a part of.
  6. (transitive) To represent in a picture or drawing.
  7. (obsolete) To represent by a figure, as to form or mould; to make an image of, either palpable or ideal; also, to fashion into a determinate form; to shape.
    • 1709, Matthew Prior, “Henry and Emma. […]”, in The Poetical Works of Matthew Prior […], volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan, […], published 1779, →OCLC ↗, page 245 ↗:
      If love, alas! be pain; the pain I bear, / No thought can figure, and no tongue declare.
  8. To embellish with design; to adorn with figures.
    • c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act V, scene ii]:
      The vaulty top of heaven / Figured quite o'er with burning meteors.
  9. (obsolete) To indicate by numerals.
    • 1698 , John Dryden, Epitaph of Mary Frampton
      As through a crystal glass the figured hours are seen.
  10. To represent by a metaphor; to signify or symbolize.
    • c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act IV, scene i]:
      whose white vestments figure innocence
  11. (obsolete) To prefigure; to foreshow.
    • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC ↗; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene i ↗:
      His loftie browes in foldes, do figure death,
      And in their ſmoothneſſe, amitie and life:
    • c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act II, scene i]:
      In this the heaven figures some event.
  12. (music) To write over or under the bass, as figures or other characters, in order to indicate the accompanying chords.
  13. (music) To embellish.
Translations Translations

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