figure 
This very curious cirripede [was] well described and/iy- 
ttred by Loven, who ro,isiil<-n-il it jui Alt-pus. 
llfini.'in, t'irripedia, p. 170. 
2. To cover or adorn with figures or images ; 
mark with figures; form figures in by art; 
fashion into a figure; diversify; variegate: as, 
to figure velvet or muslin. 
Neither shall ye set up any image of stone (margin. fig- 
Krai stone] in your land. Lev. xxvi. 1. 
The vaulty top of heaven 
Figur'd quite o'er with burning meteors. 
Shak., K. John, v. 2. 
Accept this goblet rough with figur'd gold. 
Dryden, tr. of Virgil. 
3. To represent figuratively or symbolically; 
symbolize. 
The suune and iubitcr, goode planetis, and gold, pure 
metal, and alle pure thingis that gladen a man, figurynge 
by resoun the ioie of heuene. 
Book of Quinte Essence (ed. Furnivall), p. 18. 
The matter whereof they [the sacraments] consist . . . 
figureth their end. Hooker, Eccles. Polity. 
By that beast, the old Egyptians 
Were wont to figure, in their hieroglyphics, 
Patience, frugality, and fortitude. 
B. Jonson, Poetaster, v. 1. 
4 . To imagine ; image in the mind. 
If Love, alas ! be Pain, the Pain I bear 
No Thought can figure, and no Tongue declare. 
Prior, Henry and Emma. 
Figure to yourself a Roman villa, all its little apart- 
ments thrown open, and lighted up to the best advantage. 
Gray, Letters, I. 76. 
5f. To prefigure ; foreshow. 
Three glorious suns, each one a perfect suu, . . . 
In this the heaven figures some event. 
Shak., 3 Hen. VI., ii. 1. 
6. To mark with or note by significant figures ; 
mark or indicate significantly or numerically: 
as, to figure the dial of a clock, or thg hours on 
the dial ; to figure the bass in music to show the 
intended harmony. 
As through a crystal glass the figured hours are seen. 
Dryden. 
7. To set down or reckon up in numerical fig- 
ures ; make a calculation of : as, to figure, fig- 
ure up, or figure out costs, profits, or losses. 
[Colloq.] 8. In music: (a) To embellish by 
adding passing-notes or other decorations, es- 
pecially definite figures much repeated. (6) 
See def. 6, and figured bass, under bass 3 . 
II. intrans. 1. To make a figure ; show one's 
self; be seen or prominent; take a part. 
The gentlemen, in fact, who figured in the circles of 
the gay world in these ancient times, corresponded, in 
most particulars, with the beauteous damsels whose smiles 
they were ambitious to deserve. 
Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 175. 
Knox, who is to figure so grandly in another and greater 
work, drifts as a gloomy and portentous shadow across the 
scene. Stedman, Viet. Poets, p. 404. 
He [Correggio] paints the three Fates like young and 
joyous Bacchantes. Place rote-garlands and thyrsi in their 
hands instead of the distaff and the thread of human des- 
tinies, and they might jig u re appropriately upon the pan- 
els of a banquet-chamber in Pompeii. 
J. A. Symonds, Italy and Greece, p. 272. 
Though he tries to figure as a martyr, he is only that 
stock character, the horrid example. 
Xineteenth Century, XX. 550. 
2. To cipher; work by means of figures ; make 
a calculation: as, to figure at a problem; to fig- 
ure upon a proposed bargain. [Colloq.] 
figure-castert (fig'ur-kas"ter), n. One who 
casts figures in astrology; a pretender to as- 
trology. 
I, by this figure-canter, must be imagined in such dis- 
tress as to sue to Maronilla. 
Milton, Apology for Smectymnuus. 
figure-casting (fig'ur-kas''ting), n. The art of 
preparing casts of human or animal forms and 
of various other complex objects. A figure is first 
accurately formed in wax, clay, plaster, or other suitable 
material, which serves as the core. If the core is fusible, 
or can be reduced to ashes, the mold is formed directly 
upon the core, and when it is perfectly dry and hard it is 
exposed to a heat sufficient to melt or incinerate the core 
the removal of which leaves a cavity for the metal of the 
cast. This method gives a solid casting, and is therefore 
suitable for small work only ; moreover, the model itself 
is destroyed by one use. Exquisite casts of natural objects 
are made in this manner. If the core cannot be removed 
in the way mentioned, the mold itself is made in parts to 
permit its removal. 
figured (fig'urd), p. a. 1. Depicted; represent- 
ed by figures. 
The figur'd streams in waves of silver roll'd. 
Pope, Windsor Forest, 1. 335. 
2. Adorned with figures: said of any manu- 
factured articles, but especially of those which 
are intended for surface-decoration or which 
2210 
themselves are decorated superficially : as, fig- 
ured silk ; figured muslin ; a figured wall-paper. 
In the manufactures, a /"'"'''' I'amlct, stuff, tabby, etc., 
is that whereon there are <li\ >] > ,1-^i^n.sof flowers, figures, 
branches, etc., impressed by means of hot irons. 
Chamber* s Cyc., 1741. 
3f. Figurative. 
Figured and metaphorical expressions do well to illus- 
trate more abstruse and unfamiliar ideas, which the mind 
is not yet thoroughly accustomed to. 
Locke, Conduct of the Understanding, 32. 
4. In music, same as figurate, 3. 5. In her., 
bearing the human face or features; indicat- 
ing the face as a roundel, especially the sun or 
moon Figured bass. See base*. -Figured coun- 
terpoint. See counterpoint?, 3. Figured harmony, 
muslin, etc. See the nouns. Figured syllogism, a 
syllogism expressed so that the subject and predicate of 
each premise are distinguished from each other, and the 
syllogism belongs to a definite figure. 
figure-dance (fig'ur-dans), n. A dance consist- 
ing of elaborate figures. 
The grand figure-dances, and balletts of action, as they 
are called, of the modern times, most probably surpass 
in splendour the ancient exhibitions of dancing. 
Strutt, Sports and Pastimes, p. 310. 
figure-flingert, . Same as figure-caster. 
figurehead (fig' ur-hed), . 1. An ornamental 
figure, as a statue or bust, on the projecting part 
of the head of a ship, over the cutwater and im- 
mediately under the bowsprit. If the vessel'sname 
is that of a person, object, etc., which can lie represented 
directly or emblematically by a figure, such a figure is usu- 
Figurehead. 
ally placed at the head of the vessel ; thus, the Columbus 
would have a bust or statue of Columbus for a figurehead, 
the Lion would have the figure of a lion, the Britannia a 
statue or bust of the conventional Britannia. When no 
figure is used, the head is often finished off as a scroll-head 
or a fiddle-head (see these terms), which are not strictly 
figureheads. 
Her f nil-busted fign re-head 
Stared o'er the ripple feathering from her bows. 
Tennyson, Enoch Arden. 
2. Figuratively, a person put forward to rep- 
resent or to appear to act for others, without 
having any real authority or responsibility. 
To many these kings and heroes seem nothing but the 
figure-heads of the cell turies, which may ornament the high 
prow of the times, but which are powerless to direct the 
course of the vessel. Westminster Rev., CXXV. 2. 
figure-maker (fig'ur-ma"ker), n. A maker of 
figures ; a modeler, (a) One who makes casts. See 
figure-casting, (b) One who makes wooden anatomical 
models for artists, figures for shops, figureheads, etc. 
figure-Stone (fig'ur-ston), n. 1. Same as agal- 
matolite. 2. A stone having or resembling the 
form of some object, or marked with lines nav- 
ing such a resemblance. Such stones, in which the 
representation is often very fanciful, have sometimes been 
objects of superstitious veneration. 
figurial (fi-gu'ri-al), a. [An improper form of 
figural.] Represented by figure or delineation. 
Craig. 
figurine (fig-u-ren'), n. [< F. figurine (= Pg. 
figurinha = It. figurina), a dim. of figure, fig- 
ure.] A figure, or group of figures, in any ma- 
terial, small and of ornamental character; spe- 
cifically, such a figure in pottery or metal-work. 
The figures of porcelain or pottery not painted or glazed 
being called biscuits, the term figurine is often reserved 
for those adorned with painting and gilding, as in the 
Dresden figures commonly seen. Figurines are especially 
abundant among the ancient remains of Greece, Egypt, 
Assyria, etc. 
After Alexander, from whose time dates the ornamen- 
tation of the tombs with figurines, Tanagra became the 
flourishing center of its province. The Century, XXI. 914. 
Tanagra figurine, in archcrol., one of the small terra- 
cotta figures of divinities, of mortals, or of animals, found 
in various quantity and perfection throughout Greek lands. 
fike 
These figures were in great demand among the Greeks as 
household ornaments, and it was usual to present them 
us iiitrrin-s in temples, and to bury several of them with a 
tlt-ml hoily. They were, as a 
rule, cast in molds and then 
finished, often very delicate- 
ly, by hand, and after the 
baking they were brilliantly 
colored. In them is pre- 
served a charming memorial 
of Creek private life in its 
various phases, such as the 
games of the children and the 
ooonpatioiu of the women. 
Tliry are commonly known 
ils Tiliiilgrtl liniirtnr*, Ill-rails,' 
those first brought into pub- 
lic notice, as well as some of 
the moat beautiful examples 
since found, come from the 
cemetery of Tanagra in Bueo- 
tia. 
figuring (fig'u-ring), H. 
[< JAE.figuruiige; verbal 
n. of figure, .] 1. The 
act or process of using 
figures, especially in 
computation: as, close 
figuring. 2f. Figure ; 
figuration ; beauty of 
form. 
This flour 
That bereth our alder pris in 
figurynge. 
Chaucer, Good Women, 1. 298. 
figurism (fig'u-rizm), n. [< figure + -ism.'] In 
tlieol., the doctrine or system of those who con- 
sider the events related in the Old Testament 
as figures or representations of those in the 
New. 
figuristt (tig'u-rist), n. [< figure + -is*.] One 
who uses or interprets figures or symbols ; spe- 
cifically, a believer in figurism. 
The Symbolists, Fignrintn, and Signifleatists . . . are of 
opinion that the faithful at the Lord's Supper do receive 
nothing but naked and bare signs. 
T. Jiogers, On the Thirty-nine Articles, p. 289. 
But least of all does he favour thefigtirists or memorial- 
ists ; for his doctrine runs directly counter to them almost 
in every line. Waterlaiul, Works, VII. 164. 
fig-wart (fig' wart), . Same as ficus, 3. 
figwort (fig'wert), n. [ME. not found ; < AS. 
fie wyrt (glossed ficus), < fie (in comp.) + 
vyrt, wort; so called from its use, according to 
the old doctrine of signatures, in the disease 
called ficus (AS. fie and gejic): see fig" 2 .] 1. 
The common book-name for plants of the genus 
Scropliularia, especially the common species S. 
aquatica and S. nodosa. 2. The pilewort, Ra- 
nunculus Ficaria. 
Fijian (fe-je'an), a. and M. [< Fiji, otherwise Viti 
(Fiji being the pronunciation in the eastern part 
of the group), the native name of the principal 
island.] I. a. Of or pertaining to Fiji or the 
Fiji islands, or to the Fijians. 
H. if. An indigenous inhabitant of the Fiji 
islands, a group lying in the southern Pacific 
ocean, between the New Hebrides and the 
Friendly islands. The Fijians, a vigorous race, were 
formerly cannibals, but are now mostly Christianized ; and 
the group was annexed to Great Britain as a crown colony 
in 1874, at their desire. 
Among onr interesting fellow-subjects, the Fijiam, 
whale's teeth served in the place of cowries. 
Jetxms, Money and Mech. of Exchange, p. 25. 
Also Feejeean. 
fike 1 *, . i. [ME. fiken, feign, dissemble, flatter, 
< AS. "fician, in comp. be-fician (once), deceive, 
weak verb connected with ficol, fickle, crafty, 
gefic, deceit, facen, deceit (see fickle), appar. 
ult. from a strong verb, which may be repre- 
sented secondarily by Jibe*, q. v.] To feign; 
dissemble; natter. 
fike 2 (i'ik), v.; pret. and pp. fiked, ppr. fiking. 
[Also written fyke and fick, the vowel being 
prop, short; Sc. sdsofeik; < HE. fiken, fyken, 
move about restlessly, fidget, also hasten 'away, 
< Icel. fika, in the phrase fika sig itpp, climb 
up nimbly, as a spider, = ODan. fige = Sw. 
fika, refl. fikas, hunt after, prog for, emulate, 
= Norw. fika, strive, take trouble, fika etter, 
hasten after, pursue, fika paa, hasten, hurry, 
cf. Icel. fit-inn = Sw. Norw. fiken = ODan. 
figen, greedy, eager, covetous, ODan. fig, n., 
desire, craving. Perhaps ult. connected with 
fike 1 . Hence, from fike$, fick, the form figi, as- 
sibilated fidge, freq. fidget: see fig 1 , fidge, fidg- 
et, fixk."] I. intrant. 1. To move about in it 
quick, uneasy way; be constantly in motion; 
be restless; fidget; be nervous. [Now only 
prov. Eng. and Scotch.] 
Fiketh and fondeth [strives] al his might, 
Ne mai he it forthen no wight. 
Bettiary, Old Eng. Misc. (ed. Morris), 1. 050. 
