lay figuren.
/ˈleɪ ˌfɪɡə/, U.S. /ˈleɪ ˌfɪɡjər/ a. A jointed wooden figure of the human body, used by artists as a model for the arrangement of draperies, posing, etc.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > painting and drawing > equipment for painting or drawing > [noun] > model > jointed wooden model
manikin1570
lay-man1688
mademoiselle1712
lay figure1795
1795 T. Hurlstone Crotchet Lodge 49 The latter, in passing behind the Lay-figure, pushes it, and the Landlord down together. Miss Crotchet. Heav'n's! my niece's Lay-figure is destroyed.
1851 Official Descriptive & Illustr. Catal. Great Exhib. IV. 1239 Lay figures of men and women..for artists.
1855 E. C. Gaskell North & South I. i. 7 Her aunt asked her to stand as a sort of lay figure on which to display them [sc. shawls].
1877 M. Oliphant Makers of Florence (ed. 2) xiv. 351 Fra Bartolommeo was the inventor of the lay figure.
b. figurative. A person of little intrinsic importance, a ‘nonentity’; a character in fiction destitute of the attributes of reality.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [noun] > one who is unimportant > of little importance
nekardc1450
man of clouts, king of clouts1467
dandiprat1556
Tom Thumb1579
minim1590
pygmy?1592
titmouse1596
gnatling1614
rye straw1615
nazzard1619
whisk1629
whifling1640
snifty1660
whippersnapper1674
nick-ninny1699
little me1711
squita1825
lightweight1831
lay figure1835
whiffet1839
pinkeen1850
huckleberry1868
bush leaguer1906
knibloch1915
1835 Court Mag. 6 166/2 Let me..guard myself against any possible imputation of hostility towards my proposed lay-figure.
1859 A. Helps Friends in Council New Ser. I. i. 20 I feel more for the mother, who is but a lay-figure, than for the daughter.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1902; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1795