lay figure

American  

noun

1. a jointed model of the human body, usually of wood, from which artists work in the absence of a living model.

2. a similar figure used in shops to display costumes.

3. a person of no importance, individuality, distinction, etc.; nonentity.

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lay figure British  

noun

1. an artist's jointed dummy, used in place of a live model, esp for studying effects of drapery

2. a person considered to be subservient or unimportant

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Etymology

Origin of lay figure

1785–95; lay, extracted from obsolete layman < Dutch leeman, variant of ledenman, equivalent to leden- (combining form of lid limb, cognate with Old English, Middle English lith ) + man man )

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

lay figure

So I had to treat him like a lay figure and liberate each limb and rub it until the circulation was restored.

From Forty Years of 'Spy' by Ward, Leslie

Even the doctor in A Fair Quarrel, who takes an unusually large part in the plot, can hardly be said to be more than a carefully drawn lay figure.

From Philip Massinger by Cruickshank, A. H.

His eyes closed, and he slipped into the dreamless, motionless sleep of tired childhood, the lay figure and the other Strange Bedfellows keeping watch and ward by his pillow.

From A Knight on Wheels by Hay, Ian

There is not a lay figure in the book; all are flesh and blood creations....

From Horace Chase by Woolson, Constance Fenimore

Jenny compared it with the lay figure in the studio and smiled, thinking how funny they would look together.

From Carnival by MacKenzie, Compton