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

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 Ian Hay

So, at first from the lay figure, and then from Henson's model, she began to draw Drapery with special reference to the thing draped.

From The Story of Louie by Oliver [pseud.] Onions

The lay figure or type is one all through.

From The Eliminator; or, Skeleton Keys to Sacerdotal Secrets by Richard B. Westbrook

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 Leslie Ward

M'Caskey, fortunately, is a fine lay figure for such humbug, and being already in part known through 'Tony Butler,' needs no introduction.

From Charles Lever, His Life in His Letters, Vol. II by Edmund Downey