▪ I. statue, n.
(ˈstætjuː)
Also 6 Sc. statw.
[a. F. statue (12th c.), a. L. statua, f. sta-, root of stāre to stand. Cf. It. statua, Sp., Pg. estátua.]
1. a. A representation in the round of a living being, sculptured, moulded or cast in marble, metal, plaster or the like materials; esp. a figure of a deity, allegorical personage, or eminent person, usually of life-size proportions. Also transf. and similative, as a type of silence or absence of movement or feeling.
For colossal, equestrian statue, etc. see the adjs.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 995 For his make [Lot's wife] was myst, þat on þe mount lenged In a stonen statue þat salt sauor habbes. c 1386 Chaucer Monk's T. 169 This proude kyng leet maken a statue of gold..To which ymage he bothe yonge and oold Comanded to loute. 1471 Caxton Recuyell (Sommer) 223 And that they myght no more lifte theyr swerdes than myght statues or ymages. 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 283 In buying statuies [sic] or standing images, they spend their substance. 1606, 1691 [see relief3 1]. 1608 Shakes. Per. ii. 10 And to remember what he does, Build his Statue to make him glorious. 1611 ― Wint. T. v. iii. 10 We saw not That which my Daughter came to looke vpon, The Statue of her Mother. 1622 [see round n.1 4 a]. 1628 Coke On Litt. Pref. ¶4 b, The bodie of our Author is honourably interred..vnder a faire Tombe of Marble, with his statue or portrature vpon it. 1634 Milton Comus 661 If I but wave this wand, Your nerves are all chain'd up in Alabaster, And you a statue. a 1700 Evelyn Diary 4 Feb. 1644, In the middle..stands on a noble pedestal, a brazen Statue of Lewis XIII. 1730–46 Thomson Autumn 138 The statue seemed to breathe And soften into flesh beneath the touch Of forming art. 1794 Godwin Cal. Williams 128 He looked the statue of despair. 1823 Byron Island iii. iv. 7 Still as a statue..He stood. 1833 Tennyson Pal. Art 37 And high on every peak a statue seem'd To hang on tiptoe. 1860 ― Sea Dreams 217 Ever when it broke The statues, king or saint, or founder fell. 1886 Encycl. Brit. XXI. 571 For the execution of a marble statue the sculptor first models a preliminary sketch on a small scale in clay or wax. |
¶ b. App. loosely used for: Image, effigy.
| c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 117 The rede statue of Mars with spere and targe So shyneth in his white baner large. 1513 Douglas æneis iv. xi. 112 To..birn ȝon Troians statw in flamb funerall. a 1547 Surrey æneid iv. (1557) G j b, And Troian statue throw into the flame. 1615 E. Howes Stow's Ann. 815 [Q. Eliz. funeral] And when they beheld her statue or picture lying vppon the coffin..hauing a Crowne vppon the head thereof, and a ball and scepter in either hand: there was such a generall..weeping, as the like hath not beene seene. 1632 Massinger City Madam v. iii, S[ir] Jo[hn]. Your Neeces..crave humbly Though absent in their bodys, they may take leave Of their late suitors statues... Luke. There they hang. |
c. pl. The name of various children's games which involve the players standing still in different postures.
| 1906 Dialect Notes III. 158 Statues, n., the name of a game in which children pose. 1916 N. Douglas London Street Games 41 Catch-in-the-Rope is also for boys and girls, and so is..Statues... When you play this game you have to line yourselves up against a wall or a house; then the judge comes along and pulls one of you forwards and in that moment you have to make a posture and a face..and pretend to be a statue. 1935 E. Farjeon Nursery in Nineties v. 240 She quickly suggests a game, Magical Music, or Forfeits, or Statues. She..thumps the only tune to which Statues can be played. 1950 B. Pym Some Tame Gazelle xxi. 236 When they realized that a prayer was being said, they stood stiffly with the urn, like children playing a game of ‘statues’. 1981 L. Deighton XPD xliv. 356 ‘You're moving,’ called Stein loudly. It was a good-natured complaint of the sort that children might use when playing the game of ‘statues’. |
2. attrib. and
Comb., as
statue-† craft,
statue-lantern,
statue-marble,
statue-portrait;
statues game; objective and
obj. genitive, as
statue-hewing,
statue-maker,
statue-turning,
statue worshipper; instrumental, as
statue-bordered adj.; similative, as
statue-blind adj.,
statue-like adj. and
adv.;
statue-dress Theatr., ‘a dress for the body and legs, made in one piece, worn in representations of statuary’ (
Cent. Dict. 1891).
| 1844 Mrs. Browning Vis. Poets xxxvi, And Shelley, in his white ideal, All *statue-blind. |
| 1835 Talfourd Ion iv. iii, These *statue-border'd walks. |
| 1634 Peacham Compl. Gentl. xii. (1906) 110 Such as are well seene in *statue-craft. |
| 1975 ‘D. Jordan’ Black Account ii. xxxv. 175 Guy stood by the door like a child playing the *statues game. |
| 1850 C. Brontë Pref. to E. Bronte's Wuthering Heights p. xxiv, It sets to work on *statue-hewing, and you have a Pluto or a Jove. |
| 1904 R. J. Farrer Gard. Asia xiii. 117 From this [court] one passes through others,..each forested with high toro or *statue-lanterns. |
| 1822 Byron Juan vi. lxviii, A fourth as marble, *statue-like and still, Lay in a breathless, hush'd, and stony sleep. 1828 Miss Mitford Village III. 38 Her long straight hair, parted on the forehead and twisted into a thick knot behind, gave a statue-like grace to her head. 1850 R. G. Cumming Hunter's Life S. Afr. xxviii. II. 233 The elephant..stood statue-like beside the fountain. |
| 1635 Jackson Creed viii. xxvii. 305 The vulgar Latine hath it..ad Statuarium, to the *Statue-maker. |
| 1861 L. L. Noble Icebergs 170 Frozen under enormous pressure,..it..resembles..freshly broken *statue-marble. |
| 1872 Head Sel. Grk. Coins in Electrotype Brit. Mus. 18 Thistetradrachm..may give us the traits of the *statue-portrait by Lysippos, or the gem-portrait by Pyrgoteles. |
| 1832 Brewster Nat. Magic xi. 287 The *statue-turning machine of Mr. Watt. |
| 1678 Cudworth Intell. Syst. i. iv. 473 The Image and *Statue-worshippers among the Pagans. |
Hence
ˈstatueless.
| 1860–3 Thackeray Round. Papers xix. 303 In the spirit I am walking..round the Place Vendôme, where the drapeau blanc is floating from the statueless column. |
▪ II. statue, v. (
ˈstætjuː)
[f. statue n.] 1. trans. To represent in a statue or in statuary; to honour (a person) by erecting a statue of him. Now only as
nonce-use.
| ? 1607 Day Parl. Bees viii. (1641) F 2 b, At the foure corners of this Chariot Ile have the foure windes statued. 1611 Florio, Statuare, to statue, to image. 1628 Feltham Resolves ii. xv. 42 He did not feare to lose his head,..for if he did, the Athenians would give him one immortall. He should be Statued, in the treasury of eternall fame. 1672 Eachard Hobbes' St. Nat. Consid. 64 It is great pity but that you should be entomb'd at Westminster, and statued up at Gresham Colledge for the great moral discoverer of the Age. 1895 W. Wright Zenobia & Palmyra x. 107 Another citizen erected seven columns..and he was ‘statued’ in March 179 a.d. |
† 2. To turn into a statue.
Obs. rare.
| 1628 Feltham Resolves ii. xxxvi. 111 The eye is dimme, in the discoloured face; and the whole man becomes as if statued into stone and earth. |