figure : Idioms & Phrases

Index

Academy figure

  • (Paint.), a drawing usually half life-size, in crayon or pencil, after a nude model.
Webster 1913

Academy figure, Canceled figures, Lay figure, etc.

  • See under Academy, Cancel, Lay, etc.
Webster 1913

Arabic numerals or figures

  • the nine digits, 1, 2, 3, etc., and the cipher 0.
Webster 1913

authority figure

  • noun someone who is regarded as an authority by someone else
WordNet

Canceled figures

  • (Print), figures cast with a line across the face., as for use in arithmetics.
Webster 1913

Concurring figure

  • (Geom.), one which, being laid on another, exactly meets every part of it, or one which correspondends with another in all its parts.
Webster 1913

Congruent figures

  • (Geom.), concurring figures.
Webster 1913

Etching figures

  • (Min.), markings produced on the face of a crystal by the action of an appropriate solvent. They have usually a definite form, and are important as revealing the molecular structure.
Webster 1913

father figure

  • noun a man who takes over all the functions of the real father
    father surrogate.
WordNet

father-figure

  • noun a man (often a powerful or influential man) who arouses emotions usually felt for your real father and with whom you identify psychologically
WordNet

Figure caster, ∨ Figure flinger

  • an astrologer. This figure caster." Milton.
Webster 1913

figure eight

  • noun a knot having the shape of the numeral 8; tied in a rope that has been passed through a hole or pulley and that prevents the rope from coming loose
    figure eight.
  • noun a skating figure that carves an 8 in the ice
WordNet

Figure flinging

  • the practice of astrology.
Webster 1913

figure loom

  • noun a loom for weaving figured fabrics
    figure loom.
WordNet

figure of eight

  • noun a knot having the shape of the numeral 8; tied in a rope that has been passed through a hole or pulley and that prevents the rope from coming loose
    figure eight.
WordNet

figure of merit

  • noun a numerical expression representing the efficiency of a given system, material, or procedure
WordNet

figure of speech

  • noun language used in a figurative or nonliteral sense
    image; trope; figure.
WordNet

figure out

  • verb find the solution to (a problem or question) or understand the meaning of
    lick; work out; work; puzzle out; solve.
    • did you solve the problem?
    • Work out your problems with the boss
    • this unpleasant situation isn't going to work itself out
    • did you get it?
    • Did you get my meaning?
    • He could not work the math problem
WordNet

Figure painting

  • a picture of the human figure, or the act or art of depicting the human figure.
Webster 1913

figure skate

  • noun an ice skate worn for figure skating; has a slightly curved blade and a row of jagged points at the front of the blade
  • verb dance on skates
    figure skate.
WordNet

figure skating

  • noun ice skating where the skates trace outlines of selected figures
  • verb dance on skates
    figure skate.
WordNet

Figure stone

  • (Min.), agalmatolite.
Webster 1913

Figure weaving

  • the art or process of weaving figured fabrics.
Webster 1913

Figure-of-eight knot

  • a knot shaped like the figure 8. See Illust. under Knot.
Webster 1913

figured bass

  • noun a bass part written out in full and accompanied by numbers to indicate the chords to be played
    continuo; basso continuo; thorough bass.
WordNet

figured-fabric loom

  • noun a loom for weaving figured fabrics
    figure loom.
WordNet

Inferior letter, Inferior figure

  • (Print.), a small letter or figure standing at the bottom of the line (opposed to superior letter or figure), as in A2, Bn, 2 and n are inferior characters.
Webster 1913

Interference figures

  • (Optics), the figures observed when certain sections of crystallized bodies are viewed in converging polarized light; thus, a section of a uniaxial crystal, cut normal to the vertical axis, shows a series of concentric colored rings with a single black cross; so called because produced by the interference of luminous waves.
Webster 1913

Inverse figures

  • (Geom.), two figures, such that each point of either figure is inverse to a corresponding point in the order figure.
Webster 1913

Lay figure

  • noun dummy in the form of an artist's jointed model of the human body
WordNet
  • . (a) A jointed model of the human body that may be put in any attitude; used for showing the disposition of drapery, etc. (b) A mere puppet; one who serves the will of others without independent volition.
Webster 1913

Like figures

  • (Geom.), similar figures.
Webster 1913

mother figure

  • noun a woman who evokes the feelings usually reserved for a mother
WordNet

Ordinate figure

  • (Math.), a figure whose sides and angles are equal; a regular figure.
Webster 1913

Plane figure

  • noun a two-dimensional shape
    plane figure.
WordNet
  • a figure all points of which lie in the same plane. If bounded by straight lines it is a rectilinear plane figure, if by curved lines it is a curvilinear plane figure.
Webster 1913

Prime figure

  • (Geom.), a figure which can not be divided into any other figure more simple than itself, as a triangle, a pyramid, etc.
Webster 1913

public figure

  • noun a well-known or notable person
    name; figure.
    • they studied all the great names in the history of France
    • she is an important figure in modern music
WordNet

Reciprocal figures

  • (Geom.), two figures of the same kind (as triangles, parallelograms, prisms, etc.), so related that two sides of the one form the extremes of a proportion of which the means are the two corresponding sides of the other; in general, two figures so related that the first corresponds in some special way to the second, and the second corresponds in the same way to the first.
Webster 1913

Residual figure

  • (Geom.), the figure which remains after a less figure has been taken from a greater one.
Webster 1913

Roric figures

  • (Physics), figures which appear upon a polished surface, as glass, when objects which have been near to, or in contact with, the surface are removed and the surface breathed upon; called also Moser's images.
Webster 1913

significant figure

  • noun any digit of a number that is known with certainty; any digit of a number beginning with the leftmost non-zero digit and ending with the rightmost non-zero digit (or a zero considered to be the exact value)
    significant figure; significant digit.
    • he calculated the answer to four significant figures
WordNet

Significant figures

  • noun any digit of a number that is known with certainty; any digit of a number beginning with the leftmost non-zero digit and ending with the rightmost non-zero digit (or a zero considered to be the exact value)
    significant figure; significant digit.
    • he calculated the answer to four significant figures
WordNet
  • (Arith.), the figures which remain to any number, or decimal fraction, after the ciphers at the right or left are canceled. Thus, the significant figures of 25,000, or of .0025, are 25.
Webster 1913

Similar figures

  • (Geom.), figures which differ from each other only in magnitude, being made up of the same number of like parts similarly situated.
Webster 1913

Similar rectilineal figures

  • such as have their several angles respectively equal, each to each, and their sides about the equal angles proportional.
Webster 1913

solid figure

  • noun a three-dimensional shape
    solid figure.
WordNet

Sonorous figures

  • (Physics), figures formed by the vibrations of a substance capable of emitting a musical tone, as when the bow of a violin is drawn along the edge of a piece of glass or metal on which sand is strewed, and the sand arranges itself in figures according to the musical tone. Called also acoustic figures.
Webster 1913

stick figure

  • noun drawing of a human or animal that represents the head by a circle and the rest of the body by straight lines
WordNet

Superior figure, Superior letter

  • (Print.), a figure or letter printed above the line, as a reference to a note or an index of a power, etc; as, in x2 + yn, 2 is a superior figure, n a superior letter Cf. Inferior figure, under Inferior. = superscripted number, letter
Webster 1913

terminal figure

  • noun (architecture) a statue or a human bust or an animal carved out of the top of a square pillar; originally used as a boundary marker in ancient Rome
    term; terminus.
WordNet

three-dimensional figure

  • noun a three-dimensional shape
    solid figure.
WordNet

three-figure

  • adjective satellite (of numbers) written with three figures
    • 100 through 999 are three-figure numbers
WordNet

To cut a dash ∨ a figure

  • to make a display. Colloq.
Webster 1913

To cut a figure

  • to make a display. Colloq. Sir W. Scott.
Webster 1913

To figure out

  • to solve; to compute or find the result of.
Webster 1913

To figure up

  • to add; to reckon; to compute the amount of.
Webster 1913

two-dimensional figure

  • noun a two-dimensional shape
    plane figure.
WordNet

wax figure

  • noun an effigy (usually of a famous person) made of wax
    waxwork.
WordNet

widmanstatten figures

Wid"man*stät`ten fig"ures (Also<
  • Widmanstatten figures
  • Widmanstätten figures
)
Definitions
  1. (Min.) Certain figures appearing on etched meteoric iron; -- so called after A. B. Widmanstätten, of Vienna, who first described them in 1808. See the Note and Illust. under Meteorite.
Webster 1913