Online dictionaryOnline dictionary
Synonyms, antonyms, pronunciation

  Home
English Dictionary      examples: 'day', 'get rid of', 'New York Bay'




Figure   /fˈɪgjər/   Listen
Figure

noun
1.
A diagram or picture illustrating textual material.  Synonym: fig.
2.
Alternative names for the body of a human being.  Synonyms: anatomy, bod, build, chassis, flesh, form, frame, human body, material body, physical body, physique, shape, soma.  "He has a strong physique" , "The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak"
3.
One of the elements that collectively form a system of numeration.  Synonym: digit.
4.
A model of a bodily form (especially of a person).
5.
A well-known or notable person.  Synonyms: name, public figure.  "She is an important figure in modern music"
6.
A combination of points and lines and planes that form a visible palpable shape.
7.
An amount of money expressed numerically.
8.
The impression produced by a person.  "A heroic figure"
9.
The property possessed by a sum or total or indefinite quantity of units or individuals.  Synonym: number.  "The number of parameters is small" , "The figure was about a thousand"
10.
Language used in a figurative or nonliteral sense.  Synonyms: figure of speech, image, trope.
11.
A unitary percept having structure and coherence that is the object of attention and that stands out against a ground.
12.
A decorative or artistic work.  Synonyms: design, pattern.
13.
A predetermined set of movements in dancing or skating.



Related searches:



WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University








Advanced search
     Find words:
Starting with
Ending with
Containing
Matching a pattern  

Synonyms
Antonyms
Quotes
Words linked to  

only single words



Share |
Add this dictionary
to your browser search bar





"Figure" Quotes from Famous Books



... valve rod is midway between the two eccentric rods, the valve will remain nearly stationary. This arrangement, which is now employed extensively, is what is termed "the link motion." It is represented in the annexed figure, fig. 35, where e is the valve rod, which is attached by a pin to an open curved link susceptible of being moved up and down by the bell-crank lever f'' f'', supported on the centre g, and acting on the links f, while the valve rod e remains ...
— A Catechism of the Steam Engine • John Bourne

... is of the first importance. He was the father of instrumental music. He laid the foundations of the modern symphony and sonata, and established the basis of the modern orchestra. Without him, artistically speaking, Beethoven would have been impossible. He seems to us now a figure of a very remote past, so great have been the changes in the world of music since he lived. But his name will always be read in the golden book of classical music; and whatever the evolutionary processes of the art may bring, the time ...
— Haydn • J. Cuthbert Hadden

... courtyard gate, he entered a large plot of ground, planted by Laertes as a garden and orchard; and there he found the old man, who was digging about the roots of a young tree. With strange emotions Odysseus noted every detail of his dress and figure—the soiled and tattered coat, the gaiters of clouted leather, the old gauntlets on his hands, and the goatskin cap. He who had once been the wealthiest prince in Ithaca had now the appearance of an ancient serving-man, broken down with ...
— Stories from the Odyssey • H. L. Havell

... little troop which had made us prisoners was distinguished by no outward mark. Perhaps, however, his face, his hands, and his clothes were richer in dust than those of his comrades. He leaned toward us from the height of his tall figure, and examined us so closely that I felt the grazing of his moustachios. You would have pronounced him a tiger, who smells of his prey before tasting it. When his curiosity was satisfied, he said to Dimitri, ...
— Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 1 • Charles Dudley Warner

... the king, whose figure was mean, his countenance hollow, and always seemed dejected, and every way discovering that weakness in his countenance that appeared in ...
— Memoirs of a Cavalier • Daniel Defoe

... of giving ourselves over to studious imitations, nor coldly attempt to ape such works as these. The question remains, whether we can with the present artistic resources, succeed in setting up the humble yet lofty figure of a saint; and this is at least doubtful, for the lack of real simplicity, the over-ingenious art of style, the tricks of careful design and the false craft of colour would probably transform the elect lady into a strolling player. She would be no longer a saint, but an actress ...
— En Route • J.-K. (Joris-Karl) Huysmans

... suffer there physical and moral disaster less acute but, finally, far more appalling to the imagination than any famine or pestilence that ever swept the world. Well has Mr. George Gissing named nineteenth-century London in one of his great novels the "Whirlpool," the very figure for the nineteenth-century Great City, attractive, tumultuous, ...
— Anticipations - Of the Reaction of Mechanical and Scientific Progress upon - Human life and Thought • Herbert George Wells

... of speech, judgment-seat), here meeting-place, battle-field (so, also 425, the battle is conceived under the figure of a parliament or convention): dat. sg. on þǣm ...
— Beowulf • James A. Harrison and Robert Sharp, eds.

... a lingering look at the bewitching little figure, so daintily wrapped in a fleecy blanket. Prudy felt tempted to snatch her up and give her a good hugging, but stood in mortal fear of the nurse. There was something awful about Mrs. Fling: Prudy presumed it was ...
— Little Prudy's Dotty Dimple • Sophie May

... coat that enveloped her falling back, displaying the slim, boyish figure, the active, supple limbs. Her breathing came ...
— The Safety Curtain, and Other Stories • Ethel M. Dell

... stood up in the car, a tall and graceful figure of doubt and desire and glossy black fur. "I'm sure it ...
— The Wife of Sir Isaac Harman • H. G. (Herbert George) Wells

... Danish sculptor was born of poor parents at Copenhagen, on the 19th November, 1770; his father was an Icelander, and earned his living by carving figure-heads for ships. Albert, or "Bertel," as he is more generally called, was accustomed during his youth to assist his father in his labours on the wharf. At an early age he visited the Academy at Copenhagen, where ...
— Visit to Iceland - and the Scandinavian North • Ida Pfeiffer

... to us, inquiringly. I recollected that my editor had mentioned a daughter who might prove to be an interesting and important figure in the mystery. She spoke in an overwrought, agitated tone. I studied ...
— The Gold of the Gods • Arthur B. Reeve

... sight of her figure in the glass, she stood still and gazed, her cheeks reddening more and more with mortification. Hair and dress were tumbled, the latter slightly soiled with the dust of the road, as were her boots also, and the frill about her neck was ...
— Elsie's New Relations • Martha Finley

... time it owes the position it still holds chiefly to its ecclesiastical eminence. Richard III. visited York several times, and gave a great cross to the minster, standing on six steps, each of which was ornamented with the figure of an angel. The figures were all of silver, and the whole was decorated with precious stones. Richard also planned the establishment of a college of 100 chaplains, and in 1485 six altars were erected for their use. But the scheme ...
— The Cathedral Church of York - Bell's Cathedrals: A Description of Its Fabric and A Brief - History of the Archi-Episcopal See • A. Clutton-Brock

... humorous mouth, delightful eyes and plentiful eyebrows. His iron-gray hair was brushed carefully back from his forehead. He gave one the idea of strength, notwithstanding the disabilities of his figure. He smiled contentedly as he seated himself once more ...
— An Amiable Charlatan • E. Phillips Oppenheim

... rock, whence springs a beautifully fancied tree, with clusters of three berries in the centre of three leaves, sharp and quaint, like fine Northern Gothic. The half figure of the Deity comes out of the abacus, the arm meeting that of Moses, both at full stretch, ...
— The Stones of Venice, Volume II (of 3) • John Ruskin

... excavations made under the superintendence of Hekekyan Bey were on a large scale for the first 16 or 24 feet, in which cases jars, vases, pots and a small human figure in burnt clay, a copper knife, and other entire articles were dug up; but when water soaking through from the Nile was reached the boring instrument used was too small to allow of more than fragments of works of art being brought up. Pieces of burnt brick and pottery were extracted ...
— The Antiquity of Man • Charles Lyell

... hair like spun bronze; the complexion which neither freckles nor tans; cool gray eyes with underdepths in them that no man but her lover may ever quite fathom; a figure which would be statuesque if it were not altogether human and womanly; features cast in the Puritan mould, with the lines of character well emphasized; lips that would be passionate but for—no, lips ...
— The Price • Francis Lynde

... were tired and prepared to sleep. All of a sudden and without any warning the door of the hut swung wide open and the steam of the heated room rolled out in a great cloud, out of which seemed to rise like a genie, as the steam settled, the figure of a tall, gaunt peasant impressively crowned with the high Astrakhan cap and wrapped in the great sheepskin overcoat that added to the massiveness of his figure. He stood with his rifle ready to fire. Under his girdle ...
— Beasts, Men and Gods • Ferdinand Ossendowski

... men were likewise carried to the house in which the merchants of India dwelt, who were said to be Christians. These people, learning that our men were Christians, shewed much joy at receiving them, embracing and banqueting them, and shewed them a piece of paper on which the figure of the Holy Ghost was painted, which they worshipped on their knees, with great shew of devotion, as if they had been what they pretended. The Moors then informed our men by signs, that there were many other Christians at another place, ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. II • Robert Kerr

... recollect the subject of sinister vaticinations. As he stood in glittering mail, resting on the long sword, and acknowledging by gracious gestures the acclamations which rent the air within, without, and around, Simon Glover was tempted to doubt whether this majestic figure was that of the same lad whom he had often treated with little ceremony, and began to have some apprehension of the consequences of having done so. A general burst of minstrelsy succeeded to the acclamations, and rock and greenwood rang to harp and pipes, as lately ...
— The Fair Maid of Perth • Sir Walter Scott

... valuable to Christians, not only as giving us a pattern of fidelity towards God, of great firmness, and great meekness, but also as affording us a type or figure of our Saviour Christ. No prophet arose in Israel like Moses, till Christ came, when the promise in the text was fulfilled—"The Lord thy God," says Moses, "shall raise up unto thee a Prophet like unto me:" that was Christ. Now let us consider ...
— Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VII (of 8) • John Henry Newman

... to account for your conduct to me at first—there wasn't a likeness, was there, to your old friend?" She answered "No, none—but there was a likeness!" I asked, to what? She said "to that little image!" I said, "Do you mean Buonaparte?"—She said "Yes, all but the nose."—"And the figure?"—"He was taller."—I could not stand this. So I got up and took it, and gave it her, and after some reluctance, she consented to "keep it for me." What will you bet me that it wasn't all a trick? I'll tell you why I suspect ...
— Liber Amoris, or, The New Pygmalion • William Hazlitt

... went in the afternoon with the Prince and Princess of Wales to see Munkacsy's "Christ," an enormously overrated picture, in which the chief figure was that of an Austrian village idiot, not a Christ, but the half-revolutionist, half-idiot that Christ was to the Jews who crucified Him, and who formed the crowd in the picture. If that was what the man wanted to ...
— The Life of the Rt. Hon. Sir Charles W. Dilke V1 • Stephen Gwynn

... remained in the silent holy of holies, from which thick clouds of incense rolled out, and then he reappeared with a golden vase set with precious stones. His tall figure was now resplendent with rich ornaments, and a priest, who walked before him, held the vessel ...
— Uarda • Georg Ebers

... homes, are all other than they were. Our wants have multiplied immensely; the amount of physical discomfort and downright suffering which our ancestors were called upon to endure doubtless sent up the death-rate to a figure which to us would be appalling. We start from a standing-point in moral, social, and intellectual convictions so far in advance of that of our forefathers that they could not conceive of such a terminus ad quern as serves us as a terminus a quo. ...
— The Coming of the Friars • Augustus Jessopp

... out through the door. The sight of her retreating figure brought Mr. Newbeginner to his senses. He ran to the door ...
— A Little Florida Lady • Dorothy C. Paine

... of outbreaks in later years were attributed to the propaganda of reform by revolution, like those in Spain and France in 1892, in which Ravachol was a prominent figure. In 1893 a bomb was exploded in the French Chamber of Deputies by Vaillant. The spirit of these men is well illustrated by the reply which Vaillant made to the judge who reproached him for endangering the lives of innocent ...
— Project Gutenberg Encyclopedia

... when she returned Laura came with her, and the deep mourning of the orphan's dress but faintly reflected the darker sorrow that shrouded her heart. When, a few sabbaths after her arrival, her veiled figure passed up the aisle of the church, he bowed his head in as sincere sympathy as one person can give for ...
— A Knight Of The Nineteenth Century • E. P. Roe

... told her, and as he opened the door she stepped out. The peasants, who were only some twenty yards away, stopped in surprise at the appearance of the strange little figure before them. Her golden hair fell over her shoulders, and the long loose jacket concealed the rest of her person. She spoke to them in Russian, in a high, ...
— Through Russian Snows - A Story of Napoleon's Retreat from Moscow • G. A Henty

... at last, that I have been very prolix upon this man, but the extraordinary singularity of his life, and my close connexion with him, appear to me sufficient excuses for making him known, especially as he did not sufficiently figure in general affairs to expect much notice in the histories that will appear. Another sentiment has extended my recital. I am drawing near a term I fear to reach, because my desires cannot be in harmony with the truth; they are ardent, consequently gainful, ...
— Marguerite de Navarre - Memoirs of Marguerite de Valois Queen of Navarre • Marguerite de Navarre

... curses. Cartwright, whose curiosity was ungovernable, had been guilty of the folly and indecency of coming to Westminster in order to hear the decision. He was recognised by his sacerdotal garb and by his corpulent figure, and was hooted through the hall. "Take care," said one, "of the wolf in sheep's clothing." "Make room," cried another, "for the man with the ...
— A Book of English Prose - Part II, Arranged for Secondary and High Schools • Percy Lubbock

... sport of fancy, he considers every production of art and nature, in which he could find any decussation or approaches to the form of a quincunx; and, as a man once resolved upon ideal discoveries seldom searches long in vain, he finds his favourite figure in almost every thing, whether natural or invented, ancient or modern, rude or artificial, sacred or civil; so that a reader, not watchful against the power of his infusions, would imagine that decussation was the great business of the world, and that nature and ...
— The Works of Samuel Johnson, Vol. 6 - Reviews, Political Tracts, and Lives of Eminent Persons • Samuel Johnson

... singular extent in assuming the broad view and judicious voice of posterity and exhibiting the greatest figure of our time in its true perspective.—The ...
— Education and the Higher Life • J. L. Spalding

... they had heard the stories of his daring in Mexico. They had experienced his skill and coolness at Falling Waters; they had seen at Bull Run, while the shells burst in never-ending succession among the pines, the quiet figure riding slowly to and fro on the crest above them; they had heard the stern command, "Wait till they come within fifty yards and then give them the bayonet," and they had followed him far in that victorious rush into the receding ranks ...
— Stonewall Jackson And The American Civil War • G. F. R. Henderson

... welcome to the sons of men. Yet the second Adam was before the first, and also the second covenant before the first. [This is a riddle]. And in this did Christ in time most gloriously answer Adam, who was the figure of Christ, as well as of other things. Romans 5. For, Was the first covenant made with the first Adam? so was the second covenant made with the second; for these are and were the two great public persons, or representators of the whole world, as to the first and second covenants; and ...
— The Works of John Bunyan • John Bunyan

... ordered all the bards that fell into his hands to be put to death." The argument is as follows: "The army of Edward I., as they march through a deep valley, and approach Mount Snowdon, are suddenly stopped by the appearance of a venerable figure seated on the summit of an inaccessible rock, who, with a voice more than human, reproaches the king with all the desolation and misery which he had brought on his country; foretells the misfortunes of the Norman race, and with prophetic spirit declares that all his cruelty shall ...
— Six Centuries of English Poetry - Tennyson to Chaucer • James Baldwin

... chains, defying the Russian Bear; the ghost of Charles I. warning the King of Prussia, by the block to which he points, of the punishment that awaits the would-be despot; Napoleon crushing the prostrate figure of France; the wars between "father-in-law Denmark," Germany, and Austria, and between the latter two (as Robbers in the Wood); Reform; Irish Church Disestablishment; "Dizzy" as the Premier-Peri entering the gates of Paradise, or, bound to the Ixion's wheel ...
— The History of "Punch" • M. H. Spielmann

... Raids by sea, Rasputin, sinister figure of. Rationing, compulsory, Rawlinson, General, Realisation, Reconstruction, Recruit who took to it kindly, Recruiting, posters to aid, Redmond, Major William Falls in Flanders, Makes thrilling speech, Tribute to, in Commons, Redmond, Mr. John, ...
— Mr. Punch's History of the Great War • Punch

... them here and there and giving scrambling access to small coves. I kept along near this northern cliff line, still thinking all the while, until with a start and a quickening of my heart I became abruptly conscious of a figure ...
— The Man From the Clouds • J. Storer Clouston

... die without seeing Paris. Figure to yourself what a horrid death,—to die without seeing Paris! I think I could make something of this in a tragedy, so as to draw tears from Donna Agnes and yourself. Where are you going to? When do you return? Why do you go at all? Is Paris ...
— A Letter Book - Selected with an Introduction on the History and Art of Letter-Writing • George Saintsbury

... bore a single picture, so old and dark that it was difficult to see what was represented in it. On some shelves stood a few volumes; near the window was a tall black crucifix of plain wood, the figure white. There was an oak table with writing materials. The floor was paved with ...
— Paul the Minstrel and Other Stories - Reprinted from The Hill of Trouble and The Isles of Sunset • Arthur Christopher Benson

... prowess at cricket made Trumpeter Smith a popular figure in the regiment, and even at the officers' mess his name was frequently mentioned, and many guesses were ventured as to who he was and ...
— The Dash for Khartoum - A Tale of Nile Expedition • George Alfred Henty

... scarlet ferraiuola of ceremony. One, Cardinal Bellairs, looked up at him and nodded, even smiling a little; the other stood up and bowed slightly, before extending his hand to be kissed. This second figure was a great personality—Italian by birth, an extraordinary linguist, a very largely made man, both stout and tall, with a head of thick and perfectly white hair. He had been a "Papabile" at the last election; and, it was thought, was certain of the papacy ...
— Dawn of All • Robert Hugh Benson

... that question was not so easily found—as Tom had observed. They could not roll the stump over; they had no means of cutting through to the prisoner. But, suddenly, that individual settled the question without their help. There was a struggle under the log, a splashing of the water, and then a figure bobbed up out of ...
— Ruth Fielding at Snow Camp • Alice Emerson

... work about a week; Courtenay had completed the hull of his frigate, and was busy about her spars, whilst I was putting the finishing touches to a figure-head for my seventy-four, when, about four o'clock in the afternoon, our workshop suddenly became darkened to such an extent that we could no longer see to work. Looking up and glancing out of the window, we observed that, unnoticed by us, a heavy thunder- storm had been gathering over ...
— The Rover's Secret - A Tale of the Pirate Cays and Lagoons of Cuba • Harry Collingwood

... particular in regard to his personal appearance, although he did not by any means go to extremes, as his cousin Ned had done. As he placed the jaunty fatigue-cap over his long, curly hair he looked rather complacently at the handsome face and figure that were reflected from the polished surface ...
— George at the Fort - Life Among the Soldiers • Harry Castlemon

... Aaron—Moses' brother—changed into a serpent before King Pharaoh; also some of the manna with which the people were miraculously fed during their forty years' journey in the desert when they fled out of Egypt. All these things were figures of the true religion. The Ark itself was a figure of the tabernacle, and the manna of the Holy Eucharist. The Holy of Holies was hidden from the people by a veil. Only the Chief Priest was allowed into that sacred place, and but once a year. The veil—called the veil of the Temple—hiding that Holy of Holies, ...
— Baltimore Catechism No. 4 (of 4) - An Explanation Of The Baltimore Catechism of Christian Doctrine • Thomas L. Kinkead

... history of the race of which at that epoch he was at once the king and the ideal hero—"A glorious death makes the whole life glorious." And the genius of the nation sanctioned his life and his heroic death. To Portugal Dom Sebastian became such a figure as Frederick Barbarossa, dead on the far-off crusade, had been to the Middle Age, and for two centuries, whenever night thickened around the fortunes of the race, the spirit of Dom Sebastian returned to illumine the gloom, ...
— The Origins and Destiny of Imperial Britain - Nineteenth Century Europe • J. A. Cramb

... grasp upon his knife and fork to typify the Money Power. In front of this guest, doubtless with a view of indicating his extreme wealth and the consideration in which he stood, was placed a floral decoration representing a broken bank, with the figure of a ruined depositor entwined among ...
— Further Foolishness • Stephen Leacock

... one Master Impulse: the necessity of securing one's self approval. They wear diverse clothes and are subject to diverse moods, but in whatsoever ways they masquerade they are the SAME PERSON all the time. To change the figure, the COMPULSION that moves a man—and there is but the one—is the necessity of securing the contentment of his own spirit. When it stops, the ...
— Innocents abroad • Mark Twain

... you——" she began, and then she faltered; and as she turned her little head aside for a backward look over her shoulder, she made him, somehow, think of a hollyhock, by the tilt of her tall, slim, young figure, and by the colors of her hat from which her face flowered; no doubt the deep-crimson silk waist she wore, with its petal-edged ruffle flying free down her breast, had something to do with his fantastic ...
— The Coast of Bohemia • William Dean Howells

... Guise met the charge of excessive zeal in defending his King with perfect equanimity. He was a splendid figure at the court, winning popularity by his affable manners and managing to conceal his arrogant, ...
— Heroes of Modern Europe • Alice Birkhead

... portrait with a celebrated name, what more appropriate than Ariosto, the court poet of Ferrara? But this dreamy reserve, this intensity of suppressed feeling is characteristic of all Giorgione's male portraits, and is nowhere more splendidly expressed than in this lovely figure. Where can the like be found in Palma, or even Titian? Titian is more virile in his conception, less lyrical, less fanciful, Palma infinitely less subtle in characterisation. Both are below the level of Giorgione in refinement; neither ever made of a portrait such a thing ...
— Giorgione • Herbert Cook

... prone to error than the sense is. For let men please themselves as they will in admiring and almost adoring the human mind, this is certain: that as an uneven mirror distorts the rays of objects according to its own figure and section, so the mind, when it receives impressions of objects through the sense, cannot be trusted to report them truly, but in forming its notions mixes up its own nature with ...
— Prefaces and Prologues to Famous Books - with Introductions, Notes and Illustrations • Charles W. Eliot

... the word snudge is easily guessed in this place, but it is completely explained by T. Wilson, in his "Rhetoric," 1553, when he is speaking of a figure he calls diminution, or moderating the censure applied to vices by assimilating them to the nearest virtues: thus he would call "a snudge or pynche-penny a good husband, a thrifty man" (fo. 67). Elsewhere he ...
— A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Vol. VIII (4th edition) • Various

... stern-sheets like a figure of iron, his countenance fixed, his eyes turned now ahead, now on one, now on the other side. He seldom spoke, for his attention was occupied with the task he had undertaken. Older seamen had given in, while his courage and resolution had ...
— Paddy Finn • W. H. G. Kingston

... as from afar off. Sometimes he slept and once he dreamed he saw an Indian girl come across the lake in a canoe, walk up to where he lay and stand looking at him steadily for a long time. He half opened his eyes and it still seemed to him as if there were someone there, but the face and the figure were Hinpoha's. He opened his eyes wider and looked again, but she had vanished, and he sank back ...
— The Campfire Girls on Ellen's Isle - The Trail of the Seven Cedars • Hildegard G. Frey

... "wecht," and go through all the attitudes of letting down corn against the wind. Repeat it three times, and the third time an apparition will pass through the barn, in at the windy door and out at the other, having both the figure in question, and the appearance or retinue, marking the ...
— Poems And Songs Of Robert Burns • Robert Burns

... The bandaged figure in the invalid chair moved uneasily, and a silence fell over the hospital room while he stared gloomily out into the fading light, and she sat lost in her own thoughts. Suddenly he roused, and his voice sounded sharp and curt as he said, "It is ...
— Tabitha at Ivy Hall • Ruth Alberta Brown

... you'll go out of." She preceded him, her head thrown up, her shoulders back. Amelia had no idea of dramatic values, but she was playing an effective part. She reached the door and flung it open, but Josiah, a poor figure in its huddled capes, still stood abjectly in the middle of the kitchen. "Come!" she called peremptorily. "Come, Josiah Pease! Out you go." And Josiah went, though, contrary to his usual habit, he did not talk. He quavered uncertainly ...
— Tiverton Tales • Alice Brown

... Hindenburg figure of Militarism in the centre of the room melted away with the appearance of the Peace Angel, reputed to be the fairest lady in Chelsea, who had climbed a ladder within ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. CLVIII, January 7, 1920 • Various

... numerous remains of native fires and encampments which we met with, till at last, on looking over some bushes at the sandstone rocks which were above us, I suddenly saw from one of them a most extraordinary large figure peering down upon me. Upon examination this proved to be a drawing at the entrance to a cave, which on entering I found to contain, besides, many ...
— Journals Of Two Expeditions Of Discovery In North-West And Western Australia, Vol. 1 (of 2) • George Grey

... under the moonlight—curved, in perspective, with the curving of the bay right away to the lighthouse. On her left the crowded houses of the sleeping town, slashed here and there with sharp edged shadows, receded, growing indistinct among gardens and groves. The scene, as setting to this single figure, affected him profoundly, taken in conjunction with that singular cry. He retraced the few steps ...
— Deadham Hard • Lucas Malet

... other officers had not yet joined, but he at once took up his work with his usual zeal, and spent a busy fortnight looking after the riggers, and seeing that everything was done in the best manner. He was, however, somewhat angry to find that Alice's face and figure were constantly intruding themselves into the cordage and shrouds. "I am becoming a regular mooncalf," he said angrily to himself. "It is perfectly absurd that I can't keep my thoughts from wandering away from my work, and for a girl whom I can hardly dare hope to ...
— By Conduct and Courage • G. A. Henty

... figure is the sum total of all countries' external debt, both public and private ...
— The 2008 CIA World Factbook • United States. Central Intelligence Agency.

... at the trowel, That was bred to kill a cow well: Hence the greasy clumsy mien In his dress and figure seen; Hence the mean and sordid soul, Like his body rank and foul; Hence that wild suspicious peep, Like a rogue that steals a sheep; Hence he learnt the butcher's guile, How to cut your throat and smile; Like a butcher doomed for life In his mouth ...
— The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Vol. VII - Historical and Political Tracts—Irish • Jonathan Swift

... this course upon him, and the Serbian Premier actually approached Vienna with far-reaching proposals in this very sense. Their contemptuous rejection by Berchtold and the little clique of Foreign Office officials who controlled his puppet figure, naturally strengthened still further the bonds which united Belgrade and Petrograd. Serbia, shut out from the Adriatic, had no alternative save to seek her economic outlet down the valley of the Vardar towards the ...
— The War and Democracy • R.W. Seton-Watson, J. Dover Wilson, Alfred E. Zimmern,

... when du Maurier tried to draw ugly people he often only succeeded in turning out a figure of fun. Not to be beautiful and charming is to fail of being human, seems the judgment of his pencil. This was his limitation. And another was that, whilst professing to be concerned with humanity as a whole, he nearly always broke down with types that outraged ...
— George Du Maurier, the Satirist of the Victorians • T. Martin Wood

... farther away from it. Such are God's secret paces, Who snatches souls like a thief: He drops on them without warning. Till the very eve of the day when Christ shall come to take him, Augustin will be all taken up with the world and the care of making a good figure in it. ...
— Saint Augustin • Louis Bertrand

... window, chatting merrily with a group of officers— It was he! Could she mistake that figure, though the face was turned away? Her head swam, her pulses beat like church bells, her eyes were ready to burst from their sockets. But—she was assisting at an operation. It was God's will, and she ...
— Two Years Ago, Volume II. • Charles Kingsley

... we cannot put down the wharf and its contents at a higher figure than L8,000—and I believe even that will turn out to be ...
— Three Dramas - The Editor—The Bankrupt—The King • Bjornstjerne M. Bjornson

... fashionable in London. Tell you what I'll do.—I'll give you a short trial at—say a hundred a week. You've a wonderful voice and no training; but any teacher can soon put you in shape to sing a few showy songs. Give me an option on your services for a longer term at a higher figure, if you take to the business and it takes to you, and you can start in next month at the ...
— The Bacillus of Beauty - A Romance of To-day • Harriet Stark

... as yet of the Old Baily! For the first Fact I'll insure thee from being hang'd; and going to Sea, Filch, will come time enough upon a Sentence of Transportation. But now, since you have nothing better to do, ev'n go to your Book, and learn your Catechism; for really a Man makes but an ill Figure in the Ordinary's Paper, who cannot give a satisfactory Answer to his Questions. But, hark you, my Lad. Don't tell me a Lye; for you know I hate a Liar. Do you know of anything that hath pass'd between Captain Macheath and ...
— The Beggar's Opera - to which is prefixed the Musick to each Song • John Gay

... prospect either of our agreeing on any other, or that we should remain long satisfied under it, if we could. Yet I would wish any thing and every thing essayed to prevent the effusion of blood, and to avert the humiliating and contemptible figure we are about to make in the annals ...
— The Life of George Washington, Vol. 4 (of 5) • John Marshall

... her face away. The colour vanished from her cheeks, the youth from her figure. Pensively, she gazed across the valley to the vineyard, where the black, knotted vines were blurred against the soil in the fast-gathering ...
— Master of the Vineyard • Myrtle Reed

... a great number of the Knights, including Jacques du Molay, confessed in almost precisely the same terms; at their admission into the Order, they said, they had been shown the cross on which was the figure of Christ, and had been asked whether they believed in Him; when they answered yes, they were told in some cases that this was wrong (dixit sibi quod male credebat),[144] because He was not God, He was a false prophet (quia falsus ...
— Secret Societies And Subversive Movements • Nesta H. Webster

... have confirmed themselves in falsities are like men who see streaks on a wall, and at twilight fancy that they see the figure of a horseman or just of a man, a visionary image which is dissipated when the daylight floods in. Who can sense the spiritual uncleanness of adultery except one who is in the cleanliness of chastity? Who can feel the cruelty of vengeance except one who ...
— Angelic Wisdom about Divine Providence • Emanuel Swedenborg

... profession of the law, being articled to a celebrated attorney of Sackville Street in the city of Dublin; and, from his great genius and aptitude for learning, there is no doubt he would have made an eminent figure in his profession, had not his social qualities, love of field-sports, and extraordinary graces of manner, marked him out for a higher sphere. While he was attorney's clerk he kept seven race-horses, and hunted regularly both with the Kildare and ...
— Barry Lyndon • William Makepeace Thackeray

... him at the beginning of the European conflict, before any of us could separate the tangled threads of rumor, of propaganda, of misrepresentation, to determine what it was all about; before even he could comprehend it, a solitary and monitory figure, calling upon us to be neutral, to form no hasty judgments. We see him later in the role of peacemaker, upholding the principles of decency and honor. Eventually as the record of atrocities and crimes against innocents enlarges, we see him ...
— History of the American Negro in the Great World War • W. Allison Sweeney

... who hearing the sorrows of the beautiful Flamenca, loves her unseen, sits sighing in sight of her prison bower, and faints like a hero of the Arabian Nights at her name, and has visions of her as St. Francis has of Christ; this younger and brighter Sir Launcelot, is an ideal little figure, whom you might mistake for Love himself as described in the "Romaunt of the Rose;" Love's avatar or incarnation, on whose appearance the year blooms into spring, the fruit trees blossom, the birds sing, the girls dance at eve round the maypoles; behind whom, while reading this poem, we seem to ...
— Euphorion - Being Studies of the Antique and the Mediaeval in the - Renaissance - Vol. II • Vernon Lee

... drew nearer and nearer, and in a moment the stooping figure of an old peasant came over the brow of the hill. The gait was too familiar to be mistaken. But what on earth was father Poupard doing on the ...
— My Home In The Field of Honor • Frances Wilson Huard

... slid back softly; the door opened; a little figure came out. Forward swept the lover, all impatient fires—to find himself ...
— Doom Castle • Neil Munro

... struggled to his feet, out from among the wrecked wagons sprang a dainty figure in tulle and tights, masses of hair red as the blood of the battlers streaming in waves behind her, and fired at the nearest of the common enemy, which happened to be poor Circuit. Swaying for a moment with the shock of the wound, down to the ground he settled ...
— The Red-Blooded Heroes of the Frontier • Edgar Beecher Bronson

... to a most unfortunate precipitation on his part. The night before they were to go, he found Hetty at sunset sitting under the trees, and looking dreamily out to sea. Her attitude and her look were pensive. He had never seen such an expression on Hetty's face or figure, and it gave him a warmer yearning towards her than he had ever yet dared to let himself feel. It was just time for the lamp in the lighthouse to be lit, and Hetty was watching for it. As the doctor approached her, she ...
— Hetty's Strange History • Helen Jackson

... thought to himself, "they take away with another!" Then he heard himself, he knew not why, invoking the gods of Greece, the ancient gods of Olympus, to help him. And at that moment the whole room seemed to be filled with a strange light, and he saw the wonderful figure of a man with a shining face and eyes that seemed infinitely sad and at the same time infinitely luminous. The figure held a lyre, and said to ...
— Orpheus in Mayfair and Other Stories and Sketches • Maurice Baring

... had touched him and made him ashamed of himself, and he had hinted darkly at dreadful evils. Thus carefully veiled, and tinged with mystery and romance, Montague could understand how Charlie made an interesting and appealing figure. "He says I'm different from any girl he ever met," said Alice—a remark of such striking originality that her cousin could not ...
— The Metropolis • Upton Sinclair

... black sand-bags of the Turks' front line, and the desolate waste of No Man's Land.... Then my hand sprang to the butt of my revolver. Something had moved in No Man's Land. "Look out!" I said. "They're coming!" just as from behind a bit of rising ground a figure rose on to its hands and knees. I pointed my revolver at it, and pulled the trigger. The figure collapsed, and rolled forwards till its progress was arrested by a rocky projection, over which it finally lay, doubled up like a bolster. As it fell my heart gave ...
— Tell England - A Study in a Generation • Ernest Raymond

... the top of the transparency, and quite central, a dove, with an olive branch, may be hovering over the bending figure of Britannia. ...
— Reminiscences of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey • Joseph Cottle

... with this great Arthurian story as a stage in the history of the Novel-Romance in and by itself, we must come to a figure which, though we have very little substantial knowledge of it, there is some reason for admitting as one of the first named and "coted" figures in French literature, at least as regards fiction in verse. It is well known that the action of modern criticism is in some respects strikingly ...
— A History of the French Novel, Vol. 1 - From the Beginning to 1800 • George Saintsbury

... Hounyman, or monkey god of the Hindoos, and Budhist figures. I once observed some sepoys playing and laughing at a bronze image they had picked up at the pagoda of Syriam, and on examining it, I was surprised to find that it was a figure of the Egyptian Isis, with her hand raised, and her person in the position described as the correct one when blessing the world. The art of embalming appears to be known to the Burmahs, and is occasionally practised by the priests. At the capture of the old ...
— Olla Podrida • Frederick Marryat (AKA Captain Marryat)

... so terrible, does it? or do you think so?—of course it's almost the same as a skirt except when you climb on or something—a woman has to think of those things—wouldn't Daisy Estelle look rather stunning in that?—she has just the figure for it. Here's this No. 9872 with the Norfolk jacket in this mail-order catalogue—do you think that looks too theatrical, or don't you? Of course for some figures, but I've always been able to wear—And so forth, for a month ...
— Somewhere in Red Gap • Harry Leon Wilson

... young King's health had begun to break down. When the Queen desired to be shown the horoscopes of her children, by some skillful arrangement of mirrors the astrologer made her four sons to pass before her, each in turn wearing crowns for a brief period; but all dying young and without heirs, each figure was to turn around as many times as the number of years he was to live. Poor Francis appeared, wan and sickly, and before he had made an entire circle he passed out of sight, from which the Queen knew that the young King would die before the year was out, which, as we know, ...
— In Chteau Land • Anne Hollingsworth Wharton

... also saw in the dusk the figure of a man who crept softly from one great boulder to another, and without thinking of the terror of the shepherd I spurred my horse, and rode straight for the rock behind which the figure disappeared, having no mind to have an arrow put into me at short range ...
— A Prince of Cornwall - A Story of Glastonbury and the West in the Days of Ina of Wessex • Charles W. Whistler

... at their head, were approaching the little house. When they arrived, and the change of husbands was announced, not a neighbor but framed a little mental history,—and, indeed, Jodoque cut rather a ridiculous figure. As for the burgomaster,—who knew the real Daniel, having discoursed with him about the French fleet riding off the island, that very morning,—his dignity prevented him from suddenly spoiling matters. Before he could sufficiently recover ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. II., November, 1858., No. XIII. • Various

... tendency to make people crazy. Fancy paying $12,000 in real money for one pair of live black foxes! That has been done, on Prince Edward Island, and $10,000 per pair is now regarded as a bargain-counter figure. ...
— Our Vanishing Wild Life - Its Extermination and Preservation • William T. Hornaday

... aloes encircled his soul like the plaited strands of her glorious hair. She was that other Lilith, the only offspring of the old Serpent. On what storied fresco, limned by what worshipper of Satan, had these accursed lineaments, this lithe, seductive figure, been shown! Names of Satanic painters, from Hell-fire Breughel to Arnold Boecklin, from Felicien Rops to Franz Stuck, passed through the halls ...
— Visionaries • James Huneker

... of a majestic figure which, seated beside Mrs. Kelsey on the rear seat of the limousine, towered above that short, plump lady as a dreadnaught towers above a coal barge. He surmised this figure to be that of the maternal Fosdick. Madeline climbed ...
— The Portygee • Joseph Crosby Lincoln

... quick, and then I get up with him.' I accounted for his advantage over the dog, by remarking that Col had the faculty of reason, and knew how to moderate his pace, which the dog had not sense enough to do. Dr Johnson said, 'He is a noble animal. He is as complete an islander as the mind can figure. He is a farmer, a sailor, a hunter, a fisher: he will run you down a dog: if any man has a tail it is Col. He is hospitable; and he has an intrepidity of talk, whether he understands the subject or not. I regret that he is not ...
— The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL.D. • James Boswell

... louder than any which had preceded shook the quarry. All fell to the earth, stretching their arms in cross form to ward away evil spirits by that figure. Silence followed, in which was heard only panting breath, whispers full of terror, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!" and in places the weeping of children. At that moment a certain calm voice spoke above that ...
— Quo Vadis - A Narrative of the Time of Nero • Henryk Sienkiewicz

... wore a cloak, with a cape, and had the brim of his hat slouched over his eyes, which were coal-black and piercing. He had a heavy black mustache and imperial, which gave him a rather savage expression, and, withal, he made a somewhat sinister figure. ...
— Frank Merriwell's Chums • Burt L. Standish

... She saw the figure of Francis Sales detach itself from a little group and advance towards her. She knew what he would say. He would tell her, in that sulky way of his, how many weeks had passed since he had seen her and, to avoid hearing that remark, she at once waved a hand towards the clearing and said, 'Why ...
— THE MISSES MALLETT • E. H. YOUNG

... impression of him—the dogged slouch of his broad shoulders—the grim set of his head, the square, unyielding look of his figure, as he sat his horse with the easy poise of a bushman who is one with the animal under him—in this case, a powerfully made, nasty tempered roan, one of Colin's best saddle-horses—which seemed as ...
— Lady Bridget in the Never-Never Land • Rosa Praed

... of the reef, a man with a flaming brand Walked, gazing and pausing, a fish-spear poised in his hand. The foam boiled to his calf when the mightier breakers came, And the torch shed in the wind scattering tufts of flame Afar on the dark lagoon a canoe lay idly at wait: A figure dimly guiding it: surely the fisherman's mate. Rahero saw and he smiled. He straightened his mighty thews: Naked, with never a weapon, and covered with scorch and bruise, He straightened his arms, he filled the void of his body with breath, And, strong as the wind in his manhood, doomed the fisher ...
— The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 14 (of 25) • Robert Louis Stevenson

... Members in their full numbers for all purposes—that is, with a right to vote upon all questions—British, Irish, and Imperial. [By "full numbers" I mean, not the existing figure of 103, but numbers fully, and no more than fully, warrantable according to the latest figures ...
— The Framework of Home Rule • Erskine Childers

... climb the rugged steep; and, as you gain each succeeding eminence, he points you to new scenes and new delights;—now grand—sublime; now picturesque and beautiful;—always real. Most speakers fail to draw a perfect figure. This point I think Mr. Ward has gained. His figures, when done, stand out with prominence, possessing both strength ...
— Autographs for Freedom, Volume 2 (of 2) (1854) • Various

... her. She never touched them. Her husband sprang from her also just in time. The way she jumped from a clay-eating crowd into the bosom of the English aristocracy by this dramatic ruse was worthy of a greater recognition than merely to figure among the makers of smoking-tobacco with fancy wrappers, when she never had a ...
— Comic History of the United States • Bill Nye

... feel his way along the rest of the distance, during which it was quite dark; and he hurried his followers along till the black gloom gradually became twilight, and that increased in power till it became possible to follow the dimly seen figure which went on in front. Then the twilight became a pale green, which grew brighter and brighter till all at once the black stopped ...
— Hunting the Skipper - The Cruise of the "Seafowl" Sloop • George Manville Fenn



Words linked to "Figure" :   interpolate, savvy, female body, dummy, evening, deduct, cipher, figure of merit, decal, chassis, roundness, budget, single, simile, puppet, soul, hyperbole, allow, zeugma, add, numerosity, emblem, damascene, heptad, hexadecimal digit, frame, six, polka dot, lens, reason, metaphor, sum, body, minority, vi, irony, 3, sevener, terzetto, quatern, mortal, nought, quartet, trey, ii, figuration, capitalize, octal digit, leash, Captain Hicks, herringbone, herringbone pattern, octet, bear claw, quantise, adult body, foursome, statuette, troika, multiply, perception, numerousness, understand, whole number, viii, snowman, grok, conceit, equilateral, play, Nina from Carolina, quint, reckon, 4, ground, conceive of, personification, factor out, someone, envision, apprehend, two, deuce-ace, trojan horse, quadruplet, physical structure, septet, one, ix, 5, colloquialism, cakewalk, bell ringer, amount of money, figurine, dawn, material body, synecdoche, binary digit, figure of eight, gauge, fewness, influential person, tetraskelion, integer, process, hexad, v, approximate, fivesome, cinque, impression, digit, quaternity, be, iii, tierce, triskele, triplet, motive, goldbrick, multiplicity, 8, trope, divide, human being, factor in, motif, figure loom, envisage, Wooden Horse, math, tetraskele, fin, capitalise, innumerableness, amount, quaternary, decimal digit, dig, blockbuster, terminal figure, niner, homo, percept, simulation, 9, five, ternary, trio, recalculate, anatomy, decalcomania, comprehend, extract, realise, eighter, compass, duodecimal digit, half a dozen, majority, period, weave, significant digit, 1, tattoo, solve, bod, miscalculate, sunburst, octonary, exaggeration, linocut, nine, pass judgment, marking, ternion, blind alley, physical body, guess, iv, parallel, metonymy, judge, sleeper, trine, decoration, mark, trinity, realize, fraction, preponderance, misestimate, zero, man, take off, figure out, juvenile body, somebody, vii, eight, tetrad, mihrab, megahit, rainy day, housecleaning, ornament, argyll, sextet, ideate, Little Phoebe, device, differentiate, screen saver, person, personage, prevalence, septenary, pyrograph, deuce, triad, phoebe, grasp, quaternion, effect, sestet, ornamentation, take into account, add together, three, get the picture, seven, kenning, male body, sextuplet, flip side, triskelion, physique, sixer, individual, figurer, threesome, spread eagle, resolve, manoeuvre, bull's eye, tercet, model, human, integrate, octad, illustration, average out, maneuver, mandala, smash hit, average, Little Joe, ogdoad, domino effect, perceptual experience, two-dimensional figure, unity, pentad, i, prosopopoeia, lay figure, human body, sum of money, quintuplet, rhetorical device, factor, survey, 2, organic structure, 7, maths, four, prorate, summer, quantize, marionette, 0, eighter from Decatur, extrapolate, bulk, quintet, imagine, argyle, subtract, evaluate, sise, home run, mathematics, 6, oxymoron, countlessness, pencil, ace, important person, figuring, ennead



Copyright © 2024 Dictionary One.com