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

In the earlier poems he is practically a lay figure, his court the point of departure and return for the knights whose adventures are related in detail, but he himself a passive spectator.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 6 "Armour Plates" to "Arundel, Earls of" by Various

Dress him up as a lord in waiting, he'll be a dainty lay figure, but for anything more he's not as fit as this setter!

From Beatrice Boville and Other Stories by Ouida

"George, what an armful!" said the youth, in a sort of half undertone, as he tenderly lifted the little lay figure, and bore it to a crib.

From The American Gentleman's Guide to Politeness and Fashion or, Familiar Letters to his Nephews by Lunettes, Henry

Without a sympathetic audience the orator is only a lay figure, without a sympathetic circle of readers the writer is a wasted force.

From The Revival of Irish Literature Addresses by Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, K.C.M.G, Dr. George Sigerson, and Dr. Douglas Hyde by Duffy, Charles Gavan

Why should we have to learn to be musicians, and expend our poetical powers, merely to produce a sort of block, or lay figure, for him to give life and motion to?

From The Serapion Brethren, Vol. I. by Hoffmann, Ernst Theodor Wilhelm