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A figure of speech by which a word is used in a literal and metaphorical sense at the same time.

Like a sylph; airy; graceful. Sometimes a dance . . . Displayed some sylphlike figures in its maze. Byron.

another thing, as by resemblance or by convention; an emblem; a representation; a type; a figure; as, the lion is the symbol of courage; the lamb is the symbol of meekness or patience. A symbol is a sign included in the idea which it represents, e.g., an actual part chosen to represent the whole, or a lower form or spe…

re of a symbol; exhibiting or expressing by resemblance or signs; representative; as, the figure of an eye is symbolic of sight and knowledge. -- Sym*bol"ic*al*ly, adv. -- Sym*bol"ic*al*ness, n. The sacrament is a representation of Christ's death by such symbolical actions as he himself appointed. Jer. Taylor. Symbol…

nce of starry position or influence; hence, similarity of condition, fortune, etc., as prefigured by astrological calculation. [R.] Motley.

The act of syncopating; a peculiar figure of rhythm, or rhythmical alteration, which consists in welding into one tone the second half of one beat with the first half of the beat which follows.

A figure of speech in which opposite things or persons are compared. Crabb.

A figure or trope by which a part of a thing is put for the whole (as, fifty sail for fifty ships), or the whole for a part (as, the smiling year for spring), the species for the genus (as, cutthroat for assassin), the genus for the species (as, a creature for a man), the name of the material for the thing made, etc. B…

A figure by which synonymous words are used to amplify a discourse.

es. A philosophy is not worth the having, unless its results may be tabulated, and put in figures. I. Taylor.

An apparatus for exposing briefly to view a screen bearing letters or figures. It is used in studying the range of attention, or the power of distinguishing separate objects in a single impression.

A magical figure cut or engraved under certain superstitious observances of the configuration of the heavens, to which wonderful effects are ascribed; the seal, figure, character, or image, of a heavenly sign, constellation, or planet, engraved on a sympathetic stone, or on a metal corresponding to the star, in order t…

s being capable of combination in various ways, so as to form a great number of different figures. It is now often used in primary schools as a means of instruction.

. Tantalus's cup (Physics), a philosophical toy, consisting of a cup, within which is the figure of a man, and within the figure a siphon, the longer arm of which passes down through the bottom of the cup, and allows the escape of any liquid that may be poured in, when it reaches as high as the bend of the siphon, whic…

at resembling Brussels, in which the warp is printed before weaving, so as to produce the figure in the cloth. -- Tapestry moth. (Zoöl.) Same as Carpet moth, under Carpet.

Worked or figured stuff; tapestry. [R.] Spenser.

To cover or work with figures like tapestry. [R.] Holland.

To color, as the flesh, by pricking in coloring matter, so as to form marks or figures which can not be washed out.

An exact copy of a writing, set forth in the words and figures of it. It differs from purport, which is only the substance or general import of the instrument. Bouvier.

A quadrangular pillar, adorned on the top with the figure of a head, as of a man, woman, or satyr; -- called also terminal figure. See Terminus, n., 2 and 3.