figural, a.
(ˈfɪgjʊərəl)
Also 6 figurall(e.
[a. OF. figural, ad. late L. *figūrālis (implied in figūrālitās), f. figūra figure n.]
1. = figurative 1, 4. Cf. figura.
| c 1450 Henryson Mor. Fab. 22 Ouerhailled with types figurall. c 1555 Harpsfield Divorce Hen. VIII (1878) 142 Scripture is to be expounded..by the allegoricall or figurall..and by the tropologicall sense. 1621 W. Sclater Tythes (1623) 82 Their caeremonies..were shadowy and figurall. 1953 W. R. Trask tr. Auerbach's Mimesis 195 A figural schema permits both its poles—the figure and its fulfillment—to obtain the characteristics of concrete historical reality, in contradistinction to what obtains with symbolic or allegorical personifications. Ibid. 196 Far more prevalent in the Christian life of the High Middle Ages is the figural realism which can be observed in full bloom in sermons, the plastic arts, and mystery plays. 1955 R. Jakobson in Saporta & Bastian Psycholinguistics (1961) 424/2 The two varieties of figural speech—metaphor..and metonymy. 1959 Encounter Nov. 78/2 A ‘figural’ interpretation, as if every particular event signified precisely ‘something other’... Modern ‘realism’ lacks this ‘figural’ quality. 1968 E. Salter in Proc. Brit. Acad. LIV. 85 The essential messages of Piers Plowman are conveyed at their greatest intensity by figural or typological means, as are those of the Bible. |
† 2. Arith. Of numbers: Representing some geometrical figure, such as a square, cube, etc.; consisting of factors. Cf. figurate a. 3 a. Obs.
figural arithmetic: in quot., the arithmetic of ‘figural’ numbers.
| 1551 Recorde Pathw. Knowl. i. A iij b, Defin., Formes [sc. produced by arrangements of points in rows]..whiche I omitte..considering that their knowledg appertaineth more to Arithmetike figurall, than to Geometrie. 1557 ― Whetst. A ij b, Many nombers are referred to some figure..So if I saie that .16. is a square nomber, bicause it is made of .4. multiplied by .4. then is .16. here to be called a figuralle nomber. 1674 S. Jeake Arith. (1696) 173. 1704 in Harris Lex. Techn. |
| quasi-adv. 1696 Lond. Gaz. No. 3183/4 Treatise of Arithmetick in all its Parts, viz. Integers, Fractions..Figurals, etc. |
3. † a. Pertaining to figure or shape (obs.). b. Of or pertaining to figures. rare.
| 1650 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. (ed. 2) vi. xiv. 287 Yet equall incongruities have been commonly committed by Geographers and Historians, in the figurall resemblances of severall regions on earth. 1813 W. Taylor Eng. Synonyms (1856) 175 Keeping is a bad word, though a painter's term for figural perspective. 1884 Schliemann in North Amer. Rev. CXXXIX. 526 We also see in the wall-paintings figural representations. |
c. (In present technical use.)
| 1952 D. T. Rice Eng. Art 871–1100 83 Sculptures of a monumental figural character are quite different from those of a decorative or ornamental nature. 1958 Times Lit. Suppl. 3 Jan. 4/4 Similar not to the Book of Lindisfarne or the Book of Durrow, but to the figural sculpture on the Ruthwell Cross. 1970 M. Swanton Dream of Rood 12 The broad principal faces of the shaft are carved with figural subjects surrounded by identifying Latin inscriptions. |
4. Mus. = figurate a. 4.
| a 1897 [In mod. Dicts.]. 1938 Oxf. Compan. Mus. 316/2 Often the word ‘florid’ is a good translation of ‘Figural’. 1959 Listener 17 Dec. 1093/2 As well as this simple liturgical form (Choral-passion, implying unaccompanied monody), composers cultivated the Figural-passion. |