figuration

[Lat. figuratio, from figu ratus, pa. par. of figuro to shape, to figure; Ital. figurazione.] I. Ordinary Language : 1. The act of giving a certain determinate form to. "If motion be in a certain order, there follow eth vivification and figuration in living creatures perfect."- Bacon : Natural History , § 521. 2. Determination to a certain form; configuration. "I will first consider the general figuration , and then the several members."- Wotton : Remains , p. 14. 4. A figure, type, or symbol. "Considered as symbols, images, figurations of our Lord's pa ion and sacrifice." - Water land : Works, viii. 333. II. Technically : 1. Music: A mixture of concords and discords. 2. Phil .: A change in the form of words without a change in the meaning. fig-u-ra-tive, *fyg-u-ra-tive, a . [Fr. figura tif ; Ital. & Sp. figurativo , from Lat. figuratus , pa. par. of figuro to shape, to figure. Putten ham, in 1589, ranked this word among those quite recently introduced into the language.] I. Ordinary Language : *1. Representing something of a figure or type; typical. "This, they will say, was figurative , and served by God's appointment but for a time."- Hooker : Eccles . Polity. 2. Used in a metaphorical sense; not literal. "All figurative expre ions can by no means be accounted lies."- Clarke : Sermons, vol. ii., ser. 133. 3. Full of figures of speech; flowery, ornate. "They will pour forth a torrent of figurative language." -Blair: Lectures , vol. i., lect. 14. *II. Music : The same as FIGURATE (q. v.). fig-u-ra-tive-ly, *fyg-u-ra-tive-lie, *fyg-ura-tive-ly, adv . [Eng. figurative ; -ly.] In a figura. tive manner; by means of a figure; in a metaphorical or figurative sense; not literally; typically; symbolically. "Christ is figuratively and sacramentally presented in the temple on earth."-Horne: Works, vol. v., disc. 11. fig-u-ra-tive-ne , s. [Eng. figurative ; -ne .] The quality of being figurative or metaphorical. "From the figurativene of these expre ions."- Clarke : Sermons, vol. ii., ser. 122. fig'-ûre, *feg-ure, *fig-our, *fyg-ure, s . [Fr. figure , from Lat. figura a thing made, from fig , root of fin go =to shape, to fashion, to feign; Span., Port., & Ital. figura .] I. Ordinary Language: 1. Literally: (1) The form or shape of anything as expre ed by the outlines or terminating extremities. "A figure is the superficies, circumscription, and accomplished lineament of a body."-P. Holland : Plutarch, p. 667. (2) Shape, form, semblance. "Doing in the figure of a lamb the feats of a lion."Shakesp.: Much Ado about Nothing , i. 1. (3) The external form of a person or thing, con sidered with regard to grace, elegance, beauty, or their opposites. "A good figure or person, in man or woman, gives credit at first sight to the choice of either."-Richardson: Clari a. "Gerbert, one of the most striking figures of his time." *(3) Distinguished appearance; distinction. the knight to inform the court, as to give him a figure in "The speech, I believe, was not so much designed by my eye."- Add is on : Spectator , 122. *(4) Magnificence, splendor. "To the world no bugbear is so great As want of figure and a small estate." Pope: Sutires, iii. 68. (5) In the same sense as II. 7. "The most illiterate speak in figures as often as the most learned."- Blair : Lectures, vol. i., lect. 14. (6) In the same sense as II. 8. "Whose high office now Moses in figure bears." Milton: P. L. , zii. 242. (7) Something conceived in the mind; an idea, an imagination. "To scrape the figures out of your husband's brains." Shakesp.: Merry Wives of Windsor, iv. 2. (8) Value, price. II. Technically : 1. Arith .: A character employed to represent a number. The Arabic figures are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,0, by combinations of which any po ible number can be represented. "As in accounts cyphers and figures pa for real sums, South: Sermons. so in human affairs words pa for things themselves." of the astrological houses. *2. Astrol.: A horoscope; a diagram of the aspects "She works by charms, by spells, by the figure , and such daubery."-Shakesp.: Merry Wives of Windsor , iv. 2. 3. Dancing : The several steps which a dancer makes in order and cadence, considered as they form certain figures on the floor. 4. Geom.: A diagram or drawing made to represent a magnitude upon a plane surface. 5. Logic : The form of the syllogism with respect to the position of the Middle Term. "Every syllogism is said to be in one of three figures , according to the position of the middle term in the premises." Thomson : Laws of Thought , § 95. 6. Music : (1) A form of melody or accompaniment maintained throughout the phrase in which it is suggested. In a melody, figure is called sequence. In harmony a figure relates to the rhythmical observance of a certain form in all the accompanying chords to the melody. (2) A musical phrase. (3) A florid melody. (4) [FIGURED BASS.] 7. Rhet.: Any mode of speaking or writing in which words are distorted or deflected from their literal and primitive sense; the use of figurative language or expre ions; a deviation from the rules of analogy or syntax. "Three-piled hyperboles, spruce affectation, Figures pedantical." Shakesp.: Love's Labor's Lost , v. 2. 8. Theol.: A type, representation, or symbol. "Who is the figure of him that was to come."- Romans v. 14. To make or cut a figure : To make a grand show or an appearance; to cut a dash. "Who ruined his mother that he might cut a figure at the university." -Thackeray : Book of Snobs , ch. xi. figure is a figure of speech of the simplest kind, by which a word acquires other meanings besides that which is originally affixed to it. The allegory is a continued metaphor when attributes, modes, and actions, are applied to the objects thus figured . The emblem is that sort of figure of thought by which we make corporeal objects to stand for moral properties. The symbol is that species of emblem which is converted into a constituted sign among men. The type is that species of emblem by which one object is made to represent another mystically." ( Crabb : Eng . Synon .) (2) For the difference between figure and form , see FORM. fortune-teller. *figure-caster, s. A pretender to astrology; a "Some have dealt with him as charmers, and figure-casters."-Bp. Hall: Contempl., Christ Among the Gergesenes. *figure-flinger, s. A figure-caster; an astrologer. "Quacks, figure- flingers , pettifoggers, and republican plotters cannot well live without it." -Jer. Collier: E ays, Of Confidence. nation by astrology. *figure-flinging, s. The art or practice of divi