| 释义 |
lay figure|ˈleɪ ˈfɪgə(r)|
[f. *lay (abstracted from layman2) + figure n.]
A jointed wooden figure of the human body, used by artists as a model for the arrangement of draperies, posing, etc.
1795T. Hurlstone Crotchet Lodge 49 The latter, in passing behind the Lay-figure, pushes it, and the Landlord down together. Miss Crotchet. Heav'n's! my niece's Lay-figure is destroyed. 1851Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib. 1239 Lay figures of men and women..for artists. 1855Mrs. Gaskell North & S. i, Her Aunt asked her to stand as a sort of lay figure on which to display them [shawls]. 1877Mrs. Oliphant Makers Flor. xiv. 351 Fra Bartolommeo was the inventor of the lay figure.
b. fig. A person of little intrinsic importance, a ‘nonentity’; a character in fiction destitute of the attributes of reality.
1835Court Mag. VI. 166/2 Let me..guard myself against any possible imputation of hostility towards my proposed lay-figure. 1859Helps Friends in C. Ser. ii. I. i. 20, I feel more for the mother, who is but a lay-figure, than for the daughter. |