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Glite Dictionary
lay figure

lay figure

9.8
A model of the human body with movable joints that artists use to set and study poses
  • noun
  • Archaic
translation icon : figura articulada
  • For her anatomy lessons, she relied on a realistic lay figure to explore body proportions.

Examples

  • The artist used a lay figure to practice different poses for his painting.

  • An artist's lay figure, some ten inches tall, with limbs of cherry and joints of oak, stared skyward.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • The lay figure, too, would be kept.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • Piero liked the lay figure and the portrait in Little.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • Setting up the lay figure correctly helped the sculptor understand the body's movements.

How Realistic

manikin
  • UK
1 7.5
lay figure
  • Archaic
9.8
form
12 6.8

Surface Forms

lay figure singular
lay figures plural

Morphology

lay + figure

The component 'figure' suggests a bodily shape, but the verb 'lay' (to set or position) does not transparently yield the notion of a jointed artist's mannequin. The compound is a specialized, somewhat historical term for an artist's model, so a B1 learner who only knows the literal meanings of the parts is unlikely to infer the intended meaning.

Etymology

Lay figure may come from the idea of a model that is lay, or 'laid out', and still, not a live person. Artists used a jointed wooden figure to set poses and study the body, so the phrase now means 'a jointed model of the human body'.