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

Matilda's character is drawn well at the start; in the latter part she rather tends to become a lay figure.

From Philip Massinger by Cruickshank, A. H.

“I’m bigger, of course; but I’d be better than a lay figure, and I don’t mind posing for you a bit.”

From The Triumph of Jill by Young, F.E. Mills

But one must not speak of her as a lay figure: that is crude, elementary ... containing a grain of truth, one admits, but likely to be misinterpreted by the vulgar herd.

From The Gay Adventure A Romance by Bird, Richard

The lay figure to support the drapery suffices for the artist, the Venus herself is in his brain.

From A Day's Ride A Life's Romance by Lever, Charles James

They were within twenty paces of the silent watcher when he moved--up to that time he might have been a lay figure.

From The Great House by Weyman, Stanley John