Noun

(en noun)

A drawing or diagram conveying information.

*

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

* Shakespeare

a coin that bears the figure of an angel

A person or thing representing a certain consciousness.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-28, author=(Joris Luyendijk)

, volume=189, issue=3, page=21, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Our banks are out of control , passage=Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic […].  Until 2008 there was denial over what finance had become. When a series of bank failures made this impossible, there was widespread anger, leading to the public humiliation of symbolic figures .}}

The appearance or impression made by the conduct or career of a person.

He cut a sorry figure standing there in the rain.

* Dryden

I made some figure there.

* Blackstone

gentlemen of the best figure in the county

(obsolete) Distinguished appearance; magnificence; conspicuous representation; splendour; show.

* Law

that he may live in figure and indulgence

A human figure, which dress or corset must fit to; the shape of a human body.

*

A numeral.

A number.

*

A shape.

* Francis Bacon

Flowers have all exquisite figures .

*

A visible pattern as in wood or cloth.

The muslin was of a pretty figure .

A dance figure, a complex dance move^(w).

*

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=Although the Celebrity was almost impervious to sarcasm, he was now beginning to exhibit visible signs of uneasiness,

A figure of speech.

* Macaulay

to represent the imagination under the figure of a wing

(logic) The form of a syllogism with respect to the relative position of the middle term.

(astrology) A horoscope; the diagram of the aspects of the astrological houses.

(Johnson)

(music) Any short succession of notes, either as melody or as a group of chords, which produce a single complete and distinct impression.

(Grove)

(music) A form of melody or accompaniment kept up through a strain or passage; a motif; a florid embellishment.

Noun

(en noun)

Model, example.

# Something from which a copy is made; a model or outline.

#* 1923 , ‘President Wilson’, Time , 18 Jun 1923:

There is no reason why all colleges and universities should be cut to the same pattern .

# Someone or something seen as an example to be imitated; an exemplar.

#* 1946 , Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy , I.16:

The Platonic Socrates was a pattern to subsequent philosophers for many ages.

#

#

# A representative example.

# (US) The material needed to make a piece of clothing.

# (textiles) The paper or cardboard template from which the parts of a garment are traced onto fabric prior to cutting out and assembling.

# (metalworking, dated) A full-sized model around which a mould of sand is made, to receive the melted metal. It is usually made of wood and in several parts, so as to be removed from the mould without damage.

# (computing) A text string containing wildcards, used for matching.

There were no files matching the pattern *.txt.

Decorative arrangement.

# A design, motif or decoration, especially formed from regular repeated elements.

#* 2003 , Valentino, ‘Is there a future in fashion's past?’, Time , 5 Feb 2003:

On my way to work the other day, I stopped at a church in Rome and saw a painting of the Madonna. The subtle pattern of blues and golds in the embroidery of her dress was so amazing that I used it to design a new evening dress for my haute couture.

# A naturally-occurring or random arrangement of shapes, colours etc. which have a regular or decorative effect.

#* 2011 , Rachel Cooke, The Observer , 19 Jun 2011:

He lifted the entire joint or fowl up into the air, speared on a carving fork, and sliced pieces off it so that they fell on the plate below in perfectly organised patterns .

# The given spread, range etc. of shot fired from a gun.

# A particular sequence of events, facts etc. which can be understood, used to predict the future, or seen to have a mathematical, geometric, statistical etc. relationship.

#* 1980 , ‘Shifting Targets’, Time , 6 Oct 1980:

The three killings pointed to an ugly new shift in the enduring pattern of violence in Northern Ireland: the mostly Protestant Ulster police, or those suspected of affiliation with them, have become more prominent targets for the I.R.A. than the British troops.

#* 2003 , Kate Hudson, The Guardian , 14 Aug 2003:

Look again at how the US and its allies behaved then, and the pattern is unmistakable.

# (linguistics) An intelligible arrangement in a given area of language.