▪ I. picture, n.
(ˈpɪktjʊə(r), -tʃə(r))
Forms: 5–6 pict-, pyctour(e, pycture, 5– picture, (6 pyghtur, 6–7 pictor, -ur).
[ad. L. pictūra painting, f. pict-, ppl. stem of pingĕre to paint. Cf. It. pittura.]
† 1. The action or process of painting or drawing; the fact or condition of being painted or pictorially represented; the art of painting; pictorial representation. Obs.
| c 1420 Lydg. Assembly of Gods 1767 The furst behynde the yn pycture ys prouydyd. c 1500 Melusine 352 There were the armes of Lusynen wel shewed and knowen in pycture. 1606 Peacham Art of Drawing 3 Certain Festival dayes were yearly appointed at Corinth for the exercise of Picture. 1636 B. Jonson Discov. Wks. (1692) 707 Picture took her feigning from Poetry. 1693 Dryden To Sir G. Kneller 36 By slow degrees the godlike art advanced; As man grew polished, picture was enhanced. 1744 Collins Epist. to Sir T. Hanmer 108 O might some verse with happiest skill persuade Expressive Picture to adopt thine aid! 1844 L. Hunt Imag. & Fancy (1846) 104 That subtler spirit of the art [poetry], which picture cannot express. |
2. The concrete result of this process.
† a. Pictorial representations collectively; painting.
| c 1420 Lydg. Assembly of Gods 1865 The pycture also yeueth clere intellygence Therof. c 1430 ― Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 120 The riche is shitte withe colours and picture, To hide his careyne stuffid withe foule ardure. 1573–80 Baret Alv. P 338 Picture, worke of wood, stone, or mettall finelie set in diuers colours, as in chesse boords and tables. |
b. An individual painting, drawing, or other representation on a surface, of an object or objects;
esp. such a representation as a work of
art. (Now the prevailing sense.)
| 1484 Caxton Fables of æsop iv. xv, A pyctour, where as a man had vyctory ouer a lyon. 1542 Boorde Dyetary xl. (1870) 302 To holde a crosse or a pyctour of the passyon of Cryste before the eyes of the sycke person. 1598 E. Guilpin Skial (1878) 23 Pictures are curtaind from the vulgar eyes. 1653 Walton Angler To Rdr. 2 He that likes not the discourse, should like the pictures of the Trout and other fish. 1705 Addison Italy Pref., Accounts of Pictures, Statues and Buildings. 1839 Sat. Mag. 13 Apr. 139/2 The photogenic picture being formed, requires fixing. 1852 Ruskin Arrows of Chace (1880) I. 71 Every noble picture is a manuscript book, of which only one copy exists, or ever can exist. 1854 J. Scoffern in Orr's Circ. Sc. I. 88 This means of taking actinic pictures. 1893 Westm. Gaz. 16 June 3/2 A picture, using the word as language is ordinarily used, is a picture of something, and it is rather important to the artist that it should be a picture of something he can paint. |
c. spec. The portrait or likeness of a person. Now
rare.
| 1505 in Mem. Hen. VII (Rolls) 271 In case that the said yonge quyn were here ye shuld have the pictor of hir with yow. 1538 Cromwell in Merriman Life & Lett. (1902) II. 120 To thentent he might..visite and see his daughter and also take her picture. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. iii. iv. 228 Heere, weare this Iewell for me, tis my picture. 1662 Pepys Diary 3 May, At the goldsmith's, took my picture in little..home with me. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 328* ¶1 She..draws all her Relations Pictures in Miniature. 1790 Cowper (title) On the receipt of my Mother's Picture out of Norfolk. |
† d. By extension, An artistic (in
quot. 1771 natural) representation in the solid,
esp. a statue or a monumental effigy; an image.
Obs.| c 1500 Cov. Corpus Chr. Plays 40/227 O Lorde! thogh that I be nothynge worthe To see the fassion of thi most presseose pyctore. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. i. (Percy Soc.) 6 This goodly picture was in altitude Nyne fote and more, of fayre marble stone. 1577 Hellowes Gueuara's Chron. 49 He..did erect vnto them pictures of Alabaster. 1590 in Pitcairn Crim. Trials I. ii. 192 Thow art accusit for the making of twa pictouris of clay. 1608 Heywood Rape Lucrece v. vi, Thy noble picture shall be carv'd in brass, And fix'd..In our high Capitol. 1682 R. Burton Admirable Curios. (1684) 132 But K. Henry 7. afterward caused a Tomb to be set over the Place, with his Picture in Alabaster. 1771 Langhorne Fables of Flora ix, I sought the living Bee to find, And found the picture of a Bee. |
e. A group of persons, generally motionless, picturesquely arranged and posed, representing a scene, or mimicking an action; a tableau;
spec. in the drama, at the end of an act or play. Also
living picture (F.
tableau vivant).
| 1802 T. Holcroft Tale of Mystery 30 Enter Malvoglio. He stops in the middle of the stage: the company start up... The peasants, alarmed and watching: the whole, during a short pause, forming a picture. c 1825 J. Poole Paul Pry i. ii. 13 There is a general shout of ‘Paul Pry’. Picture, and act closes. 1865 Tylor Early Hist. Man. iv. 59 Imitation of actions, or ‘pictures in the air’. 1904 Daily Chron. 9 Dec. 8/5 The great excitement comes when four of the girls are called upon to practise the ‘picture’. In this language of the dance a ‘picture’ means the moment when the dance is stopped, and the dancers get into a most uncomfortable attitude and pretend to enjoy it. |
f. A visible image
of something formed by physical means, as by a lens.
| 1668 Hooke in Phil. Trans. II. 741 A Contrivance to make the Picture of any thing appear on a Wall,..or within a Picture-frame, &c. in the midst of a Light room. 1831 Brewster Optics ii. 15 The image of any object is a picture of it formed either in the air, or in the bottom of the eye, or upon a white ground, such as a sheet of paper. 1915 Wireless World June 193/1 A picture, constant as long as the cells are under the influence of the original picture, is thus obtained on the receiving screen. 1928, etc. [see frame n. 12 c]. 1934 J. H. Reyner Television iii. 33 Fig. 14 shows the number of pictues per second at which flicker can just be detected, in terms of illumination. 1943, etc. [see field n. 16 d]. 1953 Amos & Birkinshaw Television Engin. I. i. 14 This time must be short to enable pictures to be transmitted in quick succession, as in cinema film projection. 1956 B.B.C. Handbk. 1957 215 The television services of the two countries use different standards, the English system based on a 405-line picture and the French on one of 819 lines. 1960 J. Stroud Shorn Lamb xxii. 240 Some well-intentioned hostesses obligingly turned off the sound but not the picture. 1972 G. White Video Recording iii. 17 The definition of the reproduced picture depends upon the frequency response of the signal system. 1976 Daily Tel. 30 June 2/6 Pictures sent back so far show that areas previously believed to be smooth channels..are pock marked with craters. 1977 J. French Small Craft Radar iii. 86 The radar picture is built up by displaying on a time-related sweep line the instantaneous point of arrival of the echo. |
g. A person so strongly resembling another as to seem a likeness or imitation of him or her;
= image n. 4. Const.
of.
| 1712 Spect. No. 520 ¶1 My daughter, who is the picture of what her mother was. 1715 De Foe Fam. Instruct. i. v. (1841) I. 109 The sons are the very picture of their father. 1755 J. Shebbeare Lydia (1769) II. 258 ‘Lydy’, says his lordship, ‘it [a boy] is your picture to the utmost resemblance’. a 1817 Jane Austen Northang. Abb. (1818) I. iv. 49 ‘How excessively like her brother Miss Morland is!’ ‘The very picture of him, indeed!’ 1877 G. MacDonald Marquis of Lossie III. iv. 81 Isna his mere 'at they ca' Kelpie jist the pictur' o' the deil's ain horse. 1896 P. A. Graham Red Scaur 271 You're the verra pictur' o' awd Mr. Selwyn. |
h. fig. colloq. A very beautiful or picturesque object. See also
pretty as a picture s.v. pretty a. II. 4 a.
| 1815 Sporting Mag. XLVII. 135/2 She looked a perfect picture. 1827 J. Constable Let. 4 Oct. in Corr. (1962) I. 234 Minna looks so nice in her pelisse—the blew band or what it is called was a picture. 1842 C. Brontë Let. 20 Jan. in W. Gérin C. Brontë (1967) xii. 179 He sits opposite to Anne at Church sighing softly..and Anne is so quiet..they are a picture. 1848 Dickens Dombey lvii. 575 He has been working..to make his cabin what the Captain calls ‘a picter’, to surprise his little wife. 1871 G. Meredith Let. 15 Feb. (1970) I. 439 The French..have many a noble turning, and are always a picture, good for study. 1937 A. Christie Dumb Witness vii. 65 The gardens are a picture. 1961 Guardian 9 June 12/1 The bride was, as they say, ‘a picture’. 1977 Daily News (Perth, Austral.) 19 Jan. 50/5 The rain this week won't have hurt. All it has done is make the grass greener. The court looks a picture. |
i. A representation (of a scene) on a cinematographic film; the film produced or its projection on a screen,
= film n. 3 c. Freq. in
pl., (
a) cinematographic productions collectively; (
b)
usu. with
the, the showing of a film in a cinema, a picture-show.
| 1896 [see project v. 9 d]. 1912 Home Chat 25 May 391/1 In order to get a picture of the sacking of a village, an actual village was some time ago purchased and fired. 1913 Ibid. 20 Sept. 530/1 The pictures one sees nowadays are..in much better taste than those of a few years ago. 1915 Kinematograph & Lantern Weekly 1 July 61/2 During his very successful career in ‘pictures’ he has appeared in some..thrilling productions. 1915 T. Burke Nights in Town 110 Mother and Father..go to the pictures at the Palladium near Balham Station. 1916 Variety 27 Oct. 12/2 His bride was in the Kellermann picture, ‘A Daughter of the Gods’. 1923 Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves xii. 129 Charlotte is coming to the Zoo with me this afternoon. Alone. And later on to the pictures. 1937 D. L. Sayers Busman's Honeymoon x. 225 Off to them pictures again. 1947 A. Huxley Let. 27 July (1969) 573 The ticklish situation on the set made it impossible to come to New York for Claire's wedding. But we hope and intend to make the trip after the picture is finished. 1960 M. Stark Ballad of Peckham Rye viii. 187 They came out of the pictures at eight o'clock. 1974 Sat. Rev. World (U.S.) 19 Oct. 56/2 My son had gone to the movies... I asked him, ‘How was the picture?’ 1977 I. Shaw Beggarman, Thief iii. xi. 354 The picture was not scheduled to start for another ten minutes. 1978 P. Grace Mutuwhenua iii. 11, I went to the pictures or a social with my cousins. |
j. Phr.
every picture tells a story,
orig. popularized by an advertising slogan (see
quot. 1927); also in extended uses.
| [1847 C. Brontë J. Eyre I. i. 5 The letter-press..I cared little for... Each picture told a story.] 1906 S.A. News Weekly 26 Sept. 23/3 (Advt.), Every picture tells a story... At the first sign of kidney disease..take Doan's Backache Kidney Pills. 1923 A. Huxley Antic Hay xxi. 290 ‘I'm very ill,’ she went on expiringly. ‘Look at me,’ she pointed to herself, ‘and me again.’ She waved her hand towards the sizzling brilliance of the portrait. ‘Before and after. Like the advertisements, you know. Every picture tells a story.’ 1927 W. E. Collinson Contemp. Eng. 65 The wording accompanying..the distressing pictures of human suffering, amenable to treatment by Doan's Backache Kidney Pills, supplies us with the useful Every picture tells a story!—often used derisively of anecdotal paintings. 1976 Radio Times 25 Sept. 5 (caption) Every picture tells a story: Rod Stewart, the working-class boy who has become a working-class hero. |
k. one picture is worth ten thousand words and
varr.| [1921 Printer's Ink 8 Dec. 96 (heading) One look is worth a thousand words.] 1927 Ibid. 10 Mar. 114 (caption) Chinese proverb. One picture is worth ten thousand words. 1954 R. Haydn Jrnl. Edwin Carp 90 ‘One picture speaks louder than ten thousand words.’ Mr. Bovey repeated the adage this morning when..he handed me my finished portrait. 1979 Daily Tel. 14 Aug. 11 If proof was ever needed that a few good pictures are worth more than a thousand statistics it came with bludgeoning force in last night's account of The Voyage of Rainbow Warrior (BBC-2) in the ‘Inside Story’ series. |
3. transf. a. A scene; the total visual impression produced by something; hence extended to a vivid impression received by the other senses, or produced by intellectual perception; a mental image, a visualized conception:
= idea 8.
clinical picture: the total impression or apprehension of a diseased condition, formed by the physician.
| a 1547 Surrey æneid iv. 6 In her brest Imprinted stack his wordes, a pictures forme. 1837 Syd. Smith Ballot Wks. 1859 II. 316/1, I have often drawn a picture in my own mind of a Balloto-Grotical family voting and promising under the new system. 1855 Bain Senses & Int. iii. iv. §12 (1864) 603 A botanist can readily form to himself the picture of a new plant from the botanical description. 1857 Dufferin Lett. High Lat. (ed. 3) 179 The vigorous imagination of the north..creating a stately dreamland, where it strove to blend, in a grand world picture,..the influences which sustained both the physical and moral system of its universe. |
b. Med. The sum of the clinical or histological features present in a particular state of the body.
| 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. II. 771 In such cases the disease of the liver may be dominant in the clinical picture. 1931 Jrnl. Exper. Med. LIV. 244 The clinical picture of ‘mad itch’ is very suggestive of pseudorabies. 1940 Endocrinology XXVII. 127 The histological pictures of the hypertrophied uteri after vitamin E administration and after mechanical stimulation of the cervix uteri were identical. 1966 Wright & Symmers Systemic Path. II. xxxix. 1475/1 The histological picture of psoriasis is distinctive but not pathognomic. 1977 Lancet 30 July 241/1 Another renal biopsy on March 31 revealed a hyperacute picture (diffuse small and medium arteriolar fibrin thrombi, infarction, and glomerular necrosis). |
c. In extended uses, a set of circumstances or state of affairs,
esp. in
phrs. to be in the picture, to understand or be involved in a particular situation or activity, to be in harmony with one's surroundings; similarly
to be out of the picture, to be uninvolved, inactive, or out of place;
to get the picture, to grasp or become aware of certain circumstances or facts;
to put (someone) in the picture, to inform (that person) of particular circumstances or facts.
| 1900 Beerbohm Around Theatres (1924) I. 165 His performance is, strictly, more ‘in the picture’ than was Mr. Robertson's. 1902 C. Morris Stage Confidences 202 Oh, well, I feel that I am in the picture, when I wear black during Lent. 1918 Ld. Derby in R. S. Churchill Lord Derby (1959) xv. 337 He [sc. a new ambassador in Paris]..would..by entertaining be able to bring the British Embassy more, what I may call, ‘into the picture’ than it is at the present moment. 1923 T. E. Lawrence Let. 19 Mar. (1938) 411, I said to one ‘They're the sort who instinctively fling stones at cats’..and he said ‘Why what do you throw?’ You perceive that I'm not yet in the picture. 1923 Wodehouse Good Morning, Bill! i. 24 ‘And what's the matter with taking me along?’ ‘I don't think you would be quite in the picture.’ 1926 Maines & Grant Wise-Crack Dict. 11/2 Out of the picture, in the wrong company. 1936 R. Lehmann Weather in Streets iii. iv. 320 Think of me as out of the picture..for ever. Unless, of course, you should wish to see me. 1937 L. Bromfield Rains Came i. xlv. 190 She should never have come out to India. She doesn't fit into the picture. 1938 [see chin n.1 1 d]. 1939 L. M. Montgomery Anne of Ingleside xlii. 327 Christine took possession of the whole room... Anne felt as if she were not in the picture at all. 1942 E. Waugh Put out More Flags ii. 150 ‘Put these men in the picture, Smallwood,’ he said, and there had followed a tedious and barely credible narrative about the unprovoked aggression of Southland against Northland. 1950 N. Streatfeild Mothering Sunday 144 You keep calling me a criminal, darling, but that's where you aren't in the picture. 1959 P. McCutchan Storm South xvii. 239, I would have to be kept right out of the picture so far as the Australian public eye and the police..are concerned. 1960 C. S. Lewis Studies in Words v. 128 The attitude of any slave-owning society is and ought to be repellent to us, but it is worth while suppressing that repulsion in order to get the picture as Aristotle saw it. 1961 T. Coffin Not to the Swift xviii. 201 Do you get the picture of the kind of fellow he was? 1963 A. Huxley Let. 17 Nov. (1969) 964 Under what conditions is this being done and where do I come into the picture? 1966 ‘A. Hall’ 9th Directive i. 14 At this time..the South-east Asian picture is confused and threatening. 1970 G. Greer Female Eunuch 128 Nurses are skilled menials, and as such they fall into line with the dominant pattern of female employment. Salesgirls..waitresses..tea ladies, fill out the picture. 1971 K. Amis Girl, 20 iv. 129 I'm sorry I've been out of the picture, but I've been up to my neck... Haven't had a bloody minute. 1973 A. Behrend Samarai Affair xiii. 136 Come over here soon as possible and I'll put you in the picture. 1975 N. Luard Travelling Horseman viii. 198, I explained all this... He seems to get the picture. 1977 New Yorker 15 Aug. 36/2, I suppose you were trying to make me jealous—jealous and not jealous. Tearing poor Ann down but letting me know she was in the picture. |
4. a. fig. A graphic description, written or spoken, capable of suggesting a mental image, or of imparting a notion, of the object described; also
abstr. word-painting, figurative language.
| 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 38, I am compar'd to twenty thousand fairs. O he hath drawne my picture in his letter. 1677 Lady Chaworth in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 44 Two of your acquaintances have their picture drawne in it [Hudibras]..to the lyfe. 1736 Butler Anal. i. i. (1874) 31 To afford the poets very apt allusions to the flowers of the field in their pictures of the frailty of our present life. 1801 Strutt Sports & Past. Introd. §6 Chaucer says [etc.] The picture is perfect, when referred to his own time. 1819 Stark (title) The Picture of Edinburgh. 1867 Froude Short Stud. (1883) IV. i. xi. 139 The details of the miracles contain many interesting pictures of old English life. |
b. Philos. In the study of meaning, the mental image that is assumed to correspond to a fact; also
attrib.| 1922 tr. Wittgenstein's Tractatus 39 We make to ourselves pictures of facts. Ibid., The picture presents the facts in logical space, the existence and non-existence of atomic facts. 1940 B. Russell Inquiry into Meaning & Truth xiii. 230, I can make a picture of Brutus killing Caesar..but I cannot make a picture, either real or imagined, of quadruplicity killing procrastination. 1946 Mind LV. 47 With their use of ‘the picture gallery method’, and with their insistence on the marginal case, the W[ittgensteinia]ns should be the first persons to admit..this possiblity. 1956 J. O. Urmson Philos. Analysis v. 54 The relation of language and the world, or picture of fact and fact. 1970 D. M. Taylor Explanation & Meaning xi. 132 (heading) The picture theory of meaning. 1975 Hargreaves & White tr. Wittgenstein's Philos. Remarks iii. 63 The essential difference between the picture conception [of intention] and the conception of Russell, Ogden and Richards, is that it regards recognition as seeing an internal relation. Ibid., The intention never resides in the picture itself. 1977 G. Hallett Compan. to Wittgenstein's ‘Philos. Investigations’ 41 The direction Wittgenstein's thinking took momentarily when he pondered the implications of the picture theory. |
5. a. A symbol, type, figure; the concrete representation of an abstraction; an illustration.
| 1656 Jeanes Mixt. Schol. Div. 49 Mans soule is Gods temple, and picture. 1779–81 Johnson L.P., Butler Wks. II. 190 Of the ancient Puritans... Our grandfathers knew the picture from the life. 1792 Gouv. Morris in Sparks Life & Writ. (1832) II. 182 The best picture I can give of the French nation is that of cattle before a thunder storm. 1863 M. Howitt F. Bremer's Greece I. vii. 246, I had before me daily..a beautiful picture of the life of the Greek grand seigneur on his native island. |
b. With
of and abstract
n.: An object,
esp. a person, possessing a quality in so high a degree as to be a symbol or realization of that quality.
| 1580 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 312 Behold England, wher Camilla was borne, the flower of courtesie, the picture of comelynesse. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones xviii. ii, Upon these words, Jones became in a moment a greater picture of horror than Partridge himself. 1871 Punch 15 July 17/2 He looks the picture of health. 1888 Burgon Lives 12 Gd. Men I. iii. 331 Those rooms were the very picture of disorder. |
6. attrib. and
Comb. a. attrib. Concerned in the painting, disposal, collection, etc. of pictures, as
picture-art,
picture-craft,
picture-critic,
picture-knowledge,
picture library,
picture-merchant,
picture-ring,
picture-shop, etc.; consisting of or expressed in a picture or pictures, as
picture-cycle,
picture-dialect,
picture-language,
picture-poem,
picture-puzzle,
picture-story,
picture-thought,
picture-word; adorned or illustrated with a picture or pictures, pictorial, as
picture-cover,
picture frock,
picture gown,
picture newspaper,
picture-paper,
picture-sheet,
picture-sign,
picture-strip,
picture-table,
picture-tile; having a character resembling a picture or suitable for one, as
picture dress,
picture house,
picture sleeve; (in sense 2 i)
picture-house,
picture-palace,
picture-play,
picture-playhouse,
picture theatre.
b. Objective and objective
gen., as
picture-borrowing,
picture-buying,
picture-cleaning,
picture-dealing,
picture-going,
picture-hanging,
picture-making,
picture-painting,
picture-taking,
picture-viewing ns. and
adjs.;
picture-cleaner,
picture-dealer,
picture-drawer,
picture-framer,
picture-gazer,
picture-goer,
picture-keeper,
picture-maker,
picture-restorer,
picture-seller,
picture-taker, etc.
c. Instrumental, as
picture-broidered,
picture-hung,
picture-pasted adjs.;
picture-lesson,
picture-thinking.
| 1879 N. Michell Palenque in Poems Places, Br. Amer., etc. 149 Their gorgeous buildings..Their *picture-art, and creeds of gloom and fear. |
| 1904 T. S. Moore Ode to Leda etc. p. x, Thy *picture-broidered train might be a book. |
| 1766 Goldsm. Vic. W. xx, To instruct you in the art of *picture-buying at Paris. |
| 1763 H. Walpole Let. 1 July in Corr. (1941) X. 84 Gilders, carvers, upholsterers and *picture-cleaners are labouring at their several forges. 1812 J. Smyth Pract. of Customs (1821) 36 Canada Balsam..much used by Picture-cleaners for their Varnishes. 1902 Chambers's Jrnl. July 433/2, I entrusted the panel to the most expert picture-cleaner of my acquaintance, from whose hands it came out perfect. 1978 P.O. Telephone Directory: Yellow Pages Classified: London (North) Apr. 294/3 Picture cleaners and restorers. |
| 1871 D. G. Rossetti Let. 4 Aug. (1967) III. 966, I (like most artists) am quite ignorant about *picture cleaning. 1937 Burlington Mag. May p. xxxiv/1 The picture-cleaning controversy at the National Gallery. |
| 1894 E. Banks Newspaper Girl xii. (1902) 146 He won't get the colouring from the *picture-cover [of a book] in his mouth. |
| 1762–71 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) II. 207 note, An adept in all the arts of *picture-craft. |
| 1856 R. A. Vaughan Mystics (1860) I. 8 If the *picture-critics would only write their verdicts after dinner, many a poor victim would find his dinner prospects brighter. |
| 1968 Medium ævum XXXVII. 56 This *picture-cycle must have been in existence by 1215. 1971 Amer. N. & Q. Sept. 14/2 The whole vast field of early Biblical picture-cycles. |
| 1824 Byron Juan xvi. lvi, There was a *picture-dealer. 1847 A. Brontë Agnes Grey i. 14 What do you say to doing a few more pictures..getting them framed..and trying to dispose of them to some liberal *picture-dealer? 1950 E. H. Gombrich Story of Art xx. 311 He had..to rely on middlemen, picture dealers. |
| 1805 M. A. Shee Rhymes Art (1806) 83 And patronage in *picture-dealing dies! Ibid. 93 note, By some ingenious picture-dealing anecdote. |
| 1901 Daily Chron. 14 Dec. 8/1 With this *picture-dialect at your command, why trouble to learn Sicilian? |
| 1888 Pall Mall G. 20 Feb. 5/2 These are ‘*picture dresses’, called so..on account of the fact that their salient features are copied from the paintings of Lawrence, Reynolds, Gainsborough, and other masters of the last century. |
| 1598 E. Guilpin Skial. (1878) 24 Painted Nigrina with the *picture face. |
| 1933 New Yorker 1 Apr. 37/3, I..hurried around to the nearest *picture-framer. 1972 Times 30 Sept. 11/1 Pass the picture framer's on the right. |
| 1905 in C. W. Cunnington Eng. Women's Clothing (1952) ii. 67 The rage for the *picture frock for evening, of the Greuze or Romney style. 1930 Daily Express 8 Sept. 3/6 There must be curls..to harmonise with the long Victorian dresses and picture frocks. 1975 G. Howell In Vogue 92 (caption) This picture frock of pale blue taffeta. |
| 1922 Moving Picture Stories 30 June 23/3 The millions who are regular *picture-goers. 1947 Landfall I. 294 The contemporary cinema, as it is seen by the New Zealand picture-goer. 1976 Cumberland & Westmorland Herald 4 Dec. 3/4 Picturegoers may remember the woman who used to turn and smile from the screen as the hallmark of Gainsborough productions. |
| 1976 ‘G. Black’ Moon for Killers i. 19, I always watch the movie. I really catch up on my *picture-going in airplanes. |
| 1922 Liberty Dresses (Catal.) Spring 25 *Picture gown, adapted from a 17th-Century design. 1949 A. Christie Crooked House xiv. 107 Magda, the Duchess of Three Gables, in a picture gown of taffetas. 1975 G. Howell In Vogue 147 (caption) Picture gown of black tulle. |
| 1880 Carnegie Pract. Trap. 12 The nooses..should be made of *picture-hanging wire. |
| 1896 Mrs. Caffyn Quaker Grandmother 72 What a dear old *picture house! 1908 Variety 23 May 12 Hundreds seated in a picture house who..watch with cooling brows the reels run off. 1913 Punch 31 Dec. 543/3 Scene outside an Islington Picture-house. 1939 [see fried ppl. a. b]. 1975 Country Life 6 Feb. 326/1 In 1928, the publisher..laid out {pstlg}4,000 promoting a song..sending lantern slides..to every picture house in the country. |
| 1684 E. Chamberlayne Pres. St. Eng. i. (ed. 15) 181 One *Picture-keeper, Mr. Henry Norris. |
| 1887 Ruskin Præterita II. v. 180, I had advanced in *picture knowledge since the Roman days. |
| 1855 Pusey Doctr. Real Presence Note E. 69 They are figures (as in what is plainly *picture-language). 1857–8 Sears Athan. iii. vi. 305 The natural world..is taken up and framed into a picture-language, and thus made to represent the things which are invisible. |
| 1882 R. W. Dale in Gd. Words Apr. 262 It was the gospel..taught in *picture-lessons. |
| 1958 Times 31 July 4/6 B.B.C. buy *picture library. The B.B.C. have bought the Hulton picture library from Hulton Press Ltd., it was announced yesterday. The library, which was originally called the Picture Post library..will be known as Radio Times Hulton picture library. 1975 N. Luard Travelling Horseman vi. 167, I got back..from the picture library about 5.30. |
| 1589–90 Rec. Borough Leicester (1905) III. 263 Affabell Watson of Markefyld *picture maker. 1633 Ford Love's Sacr. ii. ii, Where dwells the picture-maker? 1755 Johnson, Limner, a painter; a picture-maker. 1894 A. Macdonell Thomas Hardy x. 232 Story-teller, picture-maker, humourist, it is entertainment he offers us. 1926 V. Woolf Captain's Death Bed (1950) 167 The picture-makers seem dissatisfied with such obvious sources of interest. |
| 1889 Anthony's Photogr. Bull. II. 118 Any one who has a glimmering of the science of *picture-making. 1902 Westm. Gaz. 23 June 8/2 The value of bromide paper as a picture-making medium. 1926 V. Woolf Captain's Death Bed (1950) 169 The picture-making power. 1961 J. McCabe Mr. Laurel & Mr. Hardy (1962) viii. 159 The trouble with modern picture-making is the lack of time for preparation. |
| 1760 D. Webb Beauties of Painting Pref. 11 An idle art more useful to a *picture-merchant, than becoming a man of taste. |
| 1853 Dickens Bleak Ho. xxxiii. 329 There comes the artist of a *picture newspaper. 1979 G. Macdonald Camera x. 148/2 The development of picture magazines and newspapers. |
| 1899 Westm. Gaz. 6 Apr. 3/2 It would be interesting to make..a *picture-painting artist out of a creative milliner or dress-maker. |
| 1908 Stage Year Bk. 48 There are now indications that before long these *picture ‘palaces’ will be a feature of London and the larger provincial towns. 1937 D. L. Sayers Busman's Honeymoon iv. 85 The neighbourhood boasted a picture palace. 1973 Listener 26 July 124/3 A secure world of..visits to the pie-and-mash, and Tuesdays at the Carlton picture-palace. |
| 1867 Harper's Mag. 2 Feb. 80/1 I'm sure, Dear, the *Picture Papers can not make Frights of us now! 1878 N. Amer. Rev. CXXVII. 9 Scandalous picture-papers. 1894 S. Fiske Holiday Stories (1900) 183 An artist of the picture-paper school. 1959 T. S. Eliot Elder Statesman ii. 43 I'll feel more confidence after a fortnight..Of people not staring Or offering picture papers. |
| 1887 T. N. Page Ole Virginia (1893) 144 The *picture-pasted walls of her house. |
| 1911 Chambers's Jrnl. Sept. 621/1 Many of the leading dramatists now devote their energies seriously to the elaboration of scenarios for *picture-plays. 1923 Picture play [see picture magazine in sense 6 d below]. |
| 1919 Honey Pot I. iv. 1 (Advt.), The New Gallery Kinema, Society's *Picture Playhouse. 1966 J. Derrick Teaching Eng. to Immigrants vii. 224 There are in fact several wall charts and picture-story picture sets especially printed for language teachers. |
| 1893 W. B. Worsfold in 19th Cent. Apr. 290 We have at least learnt to be grateful for Rossetti's *picture-poems and poem-pictures. |
| 1898 Daily News 10 Dec. 6/3 We believe that this is the right word for this kind of *picture-puzzle. |
| 1831 Edin. Rev. 166 The rude hands of *picture-restorers. |
| 1885 H. Pearson Browning 13 Only the position of the *picture-rings determines whether the thing shall be hung upside, downside, or end⁓wise. |
| 1666 Pepys Diary 20 June, Thence to Faythorne, the *picture-seller's. |
| 1732 Savage Author to be let Wks. 1775 II. 268, I wish my portrait might shine in a mezzotinto through the glass windows of *picture-shops. |
| 1899 Daily News 19 Aug. 7/7 On the other side of the high⁓way..is the *picture-sign of the house. |
| 1894 Westm. Gaz. 6 Oct. 5/3 *Picture sleeves, finished with a flounce of silk and chiffon. |
| 1895 Kipling 2nd Jungle Bk. (Tauchn.) 208 He left the *picture-story with Kadlu, who lost it in the shingle. 1968 Tamarack Rev. Spring 18 Somebody passed Jake the issue of Life magazine with the lead *picture story on Israel. |
| 1949 Koestler Insight & Outlook xxiv. 345 Transitions from primitive *picture⁓strip language to more abstract forms of expression. 1959 I. & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolch. ix. 172 Few people now are nicknamed ‘Giglamps’.., although derivatives persist in the picture strips. 1966 J. Derrick Teaching Eng. to Immigrants v. 183 Picture-strip stories, in which a little episode is told in pictures as in comic strips. 1979 ‘S. Kemp’ Goodbye, Pussy ix. 115 Just like a picture⁓strip, isn't it? |
| 1629 H. Burton Truth's Triumph 10 An artificiall indented *picture-table. |
| 1909 Westm. Gaz. 10 July 14/2 Two out of three men..neglect their apparatus and drift out of the ranks of the *picture-takers. 1969 Amat. Photographer 28 May 53 (Advt.), The sort of picture-taker who winds the film on the wrong way. 1976 Daily Progress (Charlottesville, Va.) 27 Apr. (Advt.), CB spoken here..Picture taker, radar unit. |
| 1908 Variety 16 May 11 A new *picture theatre will be opened at 276 State Street. 1970 Southerly XXX. 124 The town which could offer them a pub, picture theatre, souvenir shops, milk bars. 1976 Times 13 Mar. 9/1 All the Continental towns they visited had moving picture theatres while Ireland had none. |
| 1874 W. Wallace tr. Hegel's Logic 30 Conception or *picture⁓thinking works with materials from the same sensuous source. 1879 A. B. Bruce in Expositor X. 143 We have before us..picture-thinking in which these nations are used symbolically. 1945 R. A. Knox God & Atom vii. 90 One will depend more on picture-thinking, on crude, unanalysed notions, than another. a 1963 C. S. Lewis Poems (1964) 78 Film, broadcast, propaganda, picture-thinking. |
| 1874 W. Wallace tr. Hegel's Logic 53 The predicates by which the object is to be determined are supplied from the resources of *picture-thought. |
| 1896 Daily News 30 July 2/3 Furnishing and decorating with *picture tiles a ward which is now being added to this hospital. |
| 1855 Pusey Doctr. Real Presence Note F. 63 Passages..in which the words ‘Door’ and ‘Husbandman’ are figurative, metaphorical, *picture-words. |
d. Special combs.:
picture black Television, the light level of the darkest element of a television picture, or the picture signal voltage corresponding to this;
picture-board, a decoration consisting of a plank shaped and painted to resemble some object; employed especially in the 18th c.;
picture-book, a book consisting wholly or partly of pictures,
esp. for children; also
attrib. or as adj., characteristic or suggestive of a picture-book; excessively or sentimentally pretty;
picture-card, any card bearing a picture;
spec. (
a) a court-card in a pack of cards (see also
pictured 2 b); (
b) short for
picture postcard; also
fig.;
picture-coffin, a name suggested for leaden coffins of early 17th c. date, somewhat resembling in shape the outer case of an Egyptian mummy, and bearing a mask of the deceased;
picture-documents Anthrop., records wholly or (in later times) partly in picture-writing, such as were used by the ancient Mexicans, and continued in use for certain purposes long after the Spanish conquest;
picture element Television, any of the minute areas of uniform illumination of which a television image is composed and which are produced successively by the scanning beam;
picture-frame, a frame (see
frame n. 12), often of an ornamental character, forming a border round a picture; also
attrib.; also
Theatr., used
attrib. and absol. to designate the stage or stage setting regarded as a picture enclosed by a frame; also
transf.;
picture frequency Television,
† (
a) (the frequency of) the picture signal; (
b) the number of times per second a complete television image is scanned or transmitted;
picture-frustration Psychol., used
attrib. to designate personality tests that aim to assess a subject's prejudices or personality traits through his reactions to pictures that show potentially frustrating incidents;
picture gallery, a hall or building containing a collection of pictures; the collection itself; also
fig.;
picture hat, a lady's wide-brimmed hat, generally black and adorned with ostrich-feathers, after a fashion celebrated in the paintings of Reynolds and Gainsborough; hence
picture-hatted a.;
picture-lens, a large double-convex lens of long focus, mounted in a frame, and used for viewing pictures;
picture magazine, an illustrated magazine;
picture-miniature, a miniature the subject of which is other than a portrait,
e.g. genre;
picture monitor Television, a television screen which is used to provide an immediate display of the image being received by a television camera;
picture-mosaic, mosaic consisting of pictures instead of geometrical designs, as Roman mosaic and the styles derived from it;
picture-moulding, a horizontal wooden moulding, parallel to the ceiling of a room, for hanging pictures;
picture-nail, a strong nail for picture-hanging, having an ornamental head, which is attached after the nail is in position;
picture-plane, an imaginary plane on which the perspective of a painting or the like meets the eye of the viewer;
picture postcard, a postcard having on the back a picture (
esp. a view) printed, photographed, or otherwise produced; also
fig., a scene, etc., reminiscent of or suitable for a picture postcard;
freq. attrib. or as adj., conventionally attractive or pretty, in the manner of a picture postcard; so
picture-postcardish a.;
picture-rail,
-rod, a rod occupying the position and serving the purpose of a
picture-moulding;
picture show, (
a) an exhibition of pictures; (
b) a cinema performance, a film show;
picture signal Television, the component of the video signal which carries the information relating to the brightness of the picture elements;
picture-space, a painted canvas considered as a whole in relation to parts of the painting;
picture stage, a picture-frame stage;
picture telegraphy, the telegraphic transmission of still pictures, now
usu. called
facsimile telegraphy;
cf. phototelegraphy s.v. photo- 1;
picture-telephone = videophone;
picture tie, a neck-tie with a representational design;
picture-tree: see
quot.;
picture tube Television, a cathode-ray tube of the kind used for forming the picture in a television set;
picture window, a large window consisting of a single pane of glass; also
transf. and
fig.; hence
picture-windowed a.;
picture-wire, wire of the kind used for hanging pictures. Also
picture-drawer, -writing
| 1938 Jrnl. Inst. Electr. Engin. LXXXIII. 770/1 The insertion of the d.c. component into a train of picture signals implies that the signal corresponding to *picture black is established at a definite potential. 1961 G. Millerson Technique Television Production iii. 51 Picture black may not be constant. The darkness of the blackest tones in the picture may vary from shot to shot, with picture content. 1972 G. J. King Beginner's Guide Television (ed. 5) ii. 43 In television parlance, below⁓picture black level is called blacker than black. |
| 1847 Thackeray Van. Fair (1848) xxxvii. 338 Rawdon bought the boy plenty of *picture-books, and crammed his nursery with toys. 1854 (title) Picture Book for a Noah's Ark: Description of 200 Animals. 1854 Emerson Lett. & Soc. Aims, Poet. & Imag. Wks. (Bohn) III. 148 A man's action is only a picture⁓book of his creed. 1922 A. Huxley Mortal Coils 201 It's one of those picture-book German towns. 1926 T. E. Lawrence Seven Pillars (1935) xxxiv. 199 A tiny, picture-book train rolled slowly into view across the hollow sounding bridge. 1965 Eng. Stud. XLVI. 370 A..human figure which looks half like..a picture-book goddess. 1974 Sat. Rev. World (U.S.) 2 Nov. 9/3 Kyrenia..gave promise..of a picture⁓book port. 1976 H. Kemelman Wednesday the Rabbi got Wet xlix. 272 A lovely sunny day with a blue sky and picture-book clouds. 1979 Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts CXXVII. 662/2 The book succeeds in being an attractive picture book. |
| 1837 Dickens Pickw. xliv. 479 Keep quiet, do,..there never vos such a old *picter-card born. 1838 ― O. Twist xxv, He..offered to cut any gentleman..for the first picture-card, at a shilling a time. 1908 R. Fry Let. 11 July (1972) I. 304 I've sent picture cards to the dear ones. 1932 H. Crane Let. 13 Aug. (1965) 409, I must write him a picture card at least in answer; but I'm damned if I want to continue any correspondence of that kind. 1959 I. & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolch. ix. 166 Bubble gum,..with its tempting picture card in each packet, is known as ‘beetle fat’. 1966 J. Derrick Teaching Eng. to Immigrants 239 The work cards, picture-cards, wall pictures and flashcards which accompany the course, are also recommended. |
| 1884 E. Peacock in N. & Q. 6th Ser. IX. 218/2, I suggested at the time, and still think, that it may have been part of a *picture-coffin. |
| 1865 Tylor Early Hist. Man. v. 96 It is to this transition-period that we owe many..of the *picture-documents still preserved. |
| 1927 Wireless World 1 June 684/2 The mosaic of dots, or *picture elements, would be a jumble..if there was an error of 1–90,000th part of a second in the synchronisation between the sending and receiving apparatus. 1940 D. G. Fink Princ. Television Engin. ii. 25 The transmission of television images..is accomplished by analyzing the scene into its picture elements, which are selected from the picture area in the orderly sequence of scanning and transmitted one after the other. 1976 Science 27 Aug. 792 (caption) At this resolution an object 6 m in size subtends one picture element at the nominal horizon. |
| 1668 *Picture-frame [see picture n. 2 f]. a 1790 Potter New Dict. Cant., Picture frame, the gallows, or pillory. 1804 Europ. Mag. XLV. 16/2 In a..picture-frame waistcoat, i.e...trimmed with broad gold lace. 1817 Lady Morgan France v. 29 Arranged along their walls in their perriwigs and picture-frames. 1928 J. Dolman Art of Play Production iii. 43 There are many who are ruthlessly condemning the modern theatre for its illusion, its ‘peep-hole’ realism, its ‘picture-frame’ stage. 1936 P. Rotha Documentary Film ii. i. 76 Guidance of the actors in speech and gesture, composition of the separate scenes within the picture-frame. 1959 News Chron. 29 Dec. 4/2 By the late 'sixties the flat 30 in. picture-frame sets hanging discreetly on our walls, masked during non-viewing periods by..a Constable or a Breughel, will be giving us a reasonably good colour picture. 1966 J. R. Taylor Penguin Dict. Theatre 254 By the middle of the nineteenth century the picture-frame stage, in which the whole stage was framed by the proscenium with virtually no forestage at all, had become general. 1978 Listener 8 June 740/3 The cast..will be holding their breaths to squeeze on to the little picture⁓frame stage. |
| 1926 Wireless World 5 May 645/1 The same wavelength carries both the *picture frequency, from which the received photograph is built up, and the synchronism frequency which controls the motors. 1930 Electronics Aug. 236/2 The Bell 50-line system, 17·7 repetition rate and theoretical maximum picture frequency of 22,125 cycles. 1935 Discovery Sept. 277/2 They [sc. T.V. pictures] are bright, steady (having regard to picture frequency). 1953 Amos & Birkinshaw Television Engin. I. i. 15 The number of complete pictures transmitted per second is known as the picture frequency and must be high enough to give the impression of natural movement and to minimise flicker. 1967 H. A. Cole Basic Television i. 32 The number of complete pictures presented in every second is called the picture frequency. |
| 1945 Jrnl. Abnormal Psychol. XL. 200/1 The *Picture-Frustration Study is a limited projective technique for assessing an individual's characteristic modes of reaction. 1949 S. Rosenzweig Psychodiagnosis vii. 167 The Picture-Frustration (P-F) Study, or—by its full name—the Picture-Association Study for Assessing Reactions to Frustration, is a limited projective procedure for disclosing patterns of response to everyday stress. 1968 Jrnl. Abnormal Psychol. LXXIII. 381 (heading) Coronary artery disease and response to the Rosenzweig picture-frustration study. |
| 1761 Wesley Jrnl. 11 May, One side of it is a *picture gallery. 1842 W. P. Hawes Sporting Scenes I. 178 [Wild geese are] willing to wait for the wooden devices which we have anchored in the shallow feeding-grounds, as a picture-gallery of their uncles, cousins, and sweet-hearts. 1850 C. Fox Jrnl. 1 Apr. (1972) 196 This evening Clara Balfour's picture⁓gallery included Christina of Sweden, Anne of England [etc.]. 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits, Aristocr. Wks. (Bohn) II. 85 At this moment, almost every great house has its sumptuous picture-gallery. 1931 Amer. Mercury Nov. 353/2 Picture gallery, the tattooed man. 1941 F. Thompson Over to Candleford x. 152 One of these new fancy bazaars..was to be held in the picture gallery. 1979 R. Cox Auction i. 23 The museum's picture gallery. |
| 1887 Daily News 20 July 6/1 A large ‘*picture’ hat in black velvet is to be worn with an all-white dress and black gloves. 1900 Westm. Gaz. 4 June 3 It seems not improbable that the wearing of picture hats with evening frocks..may get its chance. 1928 Mrs. Belloc Lowndes Diary 20 Feb. (1971) 112 A black lace frock with a large picture hat trimmed with roses. 1958 L. Durrell Balthazar ix. 178 Inside the cupboard I found an immense, old-fashioned picture-hat of the 1912 variety. 1975 G. Howell In Vogue 112/2 Dressed by Norman Hartnell, she wore..a picture hat and a long full dress for receptions. 1977 Jersey Even. Post. 26 July 10/1 Her matching picture hat was decorated with white tulle and flowers. |
| 1922 W. J. Locke Tale of Triona vii. 71 Her exquisitely *picture-hatted head. 1959 Picture-hatted [see goose pimples s.v. goose n. 8]. |
| 1923 Ade Let. 26 Jan. (1973) 91 Two or three weeks ago I picked up a *picture magazine and read the outline of the new picture play called ‘Fury’. 1967 G. Steiner Lang. & Silence 417 He is as remote, or more so, than is the modern picture-magazine and paper⁓back from the chained, leather-bound folio of the late medieval scholar. 1979 J. Scott Clutch of Vipers vii. 120 She was..reading a picture magazine designed for semi-literate young ladies. |
| 1903 Westm. Gaz. 16 Apr. 10/2 A private view of *picture-miniatures painted by Mr. Charles Sainton. |
| 1933 Proc. IRE XXI. 1690 The *picture monitor may be connected to either the output of the picture amplifier or to a radio receiver, which makes possible the monitoring of the radiated signals. 1961 G. Millerson Technique Television Production i. 15 The [production control] room's dominating feature is the row of picture monitors. 1975 A. Bermingham et al. Small Television Studio 60 A picture monitor is, to all appearances, a high grade tv set without sound. |
| 1797 Encycl. Brit. XIV. 182/1 If BA be drawn in the ground plan, and EV be drawn parallel to it, meeting the *picture⁓plane or perspective-plane in V, [etc.]. 1934 Burlington Mag. Aug. 91/2 The projection of the three dimensions of nature on to the two dimensions of the picture-plane. 1959 P. & L. Murray Dict. Art & Artists 240 Picture plane, the extreme front edge of the imaginary space in the picture. It lies immediately behind the glass of the frame and is the plane at which the world of the spectator and of the picture make contact. 1972 E. Lucie-Smith Eroticism in Western Art iii. 63 Her hips seem to swell towards us out of the picture-plane. |
| 1899 Daily News 18 July 5/1 Every method has been placed in the service of the *picture post-card industry, and much has been produced which in its artistic execution may lay claim to lasting value. 1900 Westm. Gaz. 24 Sept. 10/1 The exhibition of picture postcards..opened in the Rue Bonaparte at Paris contains no fewer than 150,000 examples from all parts of the world. 1904 Daily Chron. 15 Apr. 4/7 There has been some discussion of late as to who invented the picture postcard, and the fad has been traced back to a German..it is said, in 1872. 1907 R. Brooke Let. 23 Aug. (1968) 100, I shall be looking at them [sc. antiquities] when you & Arthur Watts are staring at picture⁓postcard skies & snow. a 1930 D. H. Lawrence Phoenix II (1968) 285 As a picture of Sicily in the middle of the last century, it is marvellous. But it is a picture done from the inside. There are no picture-postcard effects... There is nothing showy. 1936 A. Huxley Eyeless in Gaza xli. 491 Against a picture postcard of sunset the immoderately tall thin palms were the emblems of a resigned hopelessness. 1957 J. Braine Room at Top xi. 113 Her picture-postcard face with the dyed red bubble⁓curls and the Lily Langtry nose and chin. 1959 Sunday Express 22 Mar. 9/8 The picture-postcard village of Finchingfield. 1973 V. Canning Flight of Grey Goose v. 90 You're like all summer tourists. All you see is a nice picture-postcard sort of place. 1977 Time 24 Oct. 55/2 Bibi Andersson is pallid by comparison, a picture⁓postcard beauty. |
| 1969 Daily Tel. 14 Mar. 16/4 Bavaria and the Vorarlberg, through which they travel in spring⁓time, look very *picture-postcardish in Robert Paynter's colour photography. |
| 1869 D. G. Rossetti Let. 24 Dec. (1965) II. 781 Nor indeed do I ever go to any *picture shows whatever now. 1912 Home Chat 20 Apr. 148/1 She takes me to theatres and picture shows. 1921 R. Macaulay Dangerous Ages ii. 47 I'll go to theatres and picture shows and concerts and meetings. 1940 R. Chandler Farewell, My Lovely xxx. 227 Folks took me to the picture show. 1948 E. Pound Pisan Cantos (1949) lxxx. 94 And he said to Yeats at a vorticist picture show: ‘You also of the brotherhood?’ 1976 J. M. Brownjohn tr. Kirst's Time for Payment vi. 137 Let's inspect the results of our picture show. |
| 1927 Secor & Kraus Television iii. 15 As the incoming *picture signals are passed through an electromagnet or solenoid, it is caused to open and close a light shutter made of a small piece of aluminum and a spring. 1953 Amos & Birkinshaw Television Engin. I. i. 17 The picture signal voltage at any point in a television system varies between two limits, one representing the maximum brightness it is intended to transmit and known as white level and the other representing zero tonal value or black and known as black level. 1972 G. J. King Beginner's Guide Television (ed. 5) ii. 43 The picture signal controls the brightness of the scanning spot. |
| 1925 *Picture-space [see imaginally adv.]. 1937 Burlington Mag. Apr. 183/1 The balance between the figures and the picture-space as a whole is roughly identical. 1959 H. Read Conc. Hist. Mod. Painting v. 156 The arrangement of the elements within the picture-space remains intuitive. |
| 1951 C. B. Purdom Producing Plays (ed. 3) viii. 113 There can be no doubt that the *picture stage is doomed and that stages in new theatres should not be constructed on that principle. 1961 R. Williams Long Revolution ii. vi. 254 The modern picture-stage. |
| 1913 Wireless World Sept. 354/2 Just as with *picture-telegraphy with conductors, we can distinguish between a black and white method..and a half-tone method. 1934 Discovery Dec. 336/2 Partly owing to..the..lack of general realisation of the existence of picture telegraphy services, these have not yet been nearly as freely used as they might be. 1976 Picture telegraphy [see private a. 4 d (i)]. |
| 1968 Listener 1 Aug. 155/3 *Picture-telephones are not only going to be embarrassing to live with, they are going to drain a lot more magic out of life. 1969 Sci. Jrnl. May 36/3 This summer the Swedish L. M. Ericsson concern..is to install and test a picture-telephone connection between Stockholm and Gothenburg. 1969 P. West Words for Deaf Daughter vi. 151 Will you zoom off into a future which..brings shopping by picture-telephone? |
| 1957 R. Mason World of Suzie Wong ii. iv. 151, I thought how quietly dressed you were for an American. I mean, you weren't wearing a *picture-tie, or anything like that. 1963 ‘D. Rutherford’ Creeping Flesh i. 63 That black man with the blue suit and silk picture tie. |
| 1885 A. Brassey The Trades 145 One variety [of Euphorbiaceæ] which bears green leaves, and yellow and white markings, is called the ‘geographical-tree’, or sometimes the ‘*picture-tree’. |
| 1940 D. G. Fink Princ. Television Engin. i. 19 The image-reproducing tube (‘*picture’ tube)..is a funnel-shaped glass structure in the narrow end of which is contained an electrode structure capable of producing a narrow beam of electrons. 1966 H. Nielsen After Midnight (1967) v. 77 My picture tube blew at ten-thirty and I went straight to bed. 1976 Guardian 21 Apr. 19/1 Picture tubes account for 40 per cent of the cost of the components in a set. |
| 1938 Amer. Home Nov. 20/2 If you have a large *picture window, we suggest sill-length casement drawn curtains. 1942 Pencil Points Nov. 65/1 Extensive fenestration makes it possible to bring the outdoors into the house (note the plate glass, stationary picture windows). 1945 Nelson & Wright Tomorrow's House vi. 75/2 Storage cupboards have been grouped in such a way that picture windows could be used. 1958 J. Cannan And be a Villain iv. 79 It was a fairly recent erection with ‘picture’ windows. 1960 Chicago Rev. Autumn–Winter 117 Everett Knight is all for bringing intellectuals down from their tower. The question is whether he himself has actually come out of it or simply ordered some picture windows installed. 1969 New Yorker 12 Apr. 90/3 For twenty-one days, the astronauts may look out of a huge picture window, tinted brown against the Texas sun. 1972 J. Mann Mrs. Knox's Profession x. 78 The local style was for picture windows..affording a good view of the modern furniture drawn up around the television set. 1977 Time 25 July 9/2 He staked out the eighth-floor penthouse, with picture windows offering a panoramic view of Lake Geneva and the Alps, as his personal pad. |
| 1969 R. Blythe Akenfield 16 The ‘young marrieds’ go less and less for the converted cottage and more for *picture-windowed bungalows. 1978 G. Mitchell Mingled with Venom vi. 63 Dame Beatrice..took him into the dimly-lit lounge, out through the picture-windowed bar. |
| 1895 Montgomery Ward Catal. Spring & Summer 352/3 Braided *picture wire..2½ yards. 1923 Kipling Land & Sea Tales 88 Carpenter was off in pursuit of rabbits, with a pocket full of fine picture-wire. 1973 R. Hayes Hungarian Game ii. 22 He took the guy out with a two-foot length of picture wire and sweet Jesus it was great. |
Hence
ˈpictureful a., full of pictures;
ˈpictureless a., without a picture or pictures;
ˈpicturely a., like a picture; so
ˈpictury a. (depreciative).
| 1861 Temple Bar Mag. II. 255 My recollections seem to take very *pictureful forms. |
| 1821 Lamb Elia Ser. i. Mrs. Battle on Whist, With their naked names upon the drab pasteboard, the game might go on very well, *picture-less. 1881 Sat. Rev. 3 Sept. 293/1 Empty niches are as meaningless decorations as pictureless frames. |
| 1832 W. Barnes in Gentl. Mag. CII. 216/2 To preserve so interesting and *picturely an object. |
| 1819 Blackw. Mag. VI. 175 That *pictury-looking glare and freshness which distinguishes the scenery at our theatres. |
▪ II. picture, v. (
ˈpɪktjʊə(r),
-tʃə(r))
[f. prec. n.: cf. It. pitturare.] 1. a. trans. To represent in a picture, or in pictorial form; to draw, paint, depict;
transf. to reflect as a mirror. Also with
out.
| c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon xxv. 512 Margarys..bare in his armes a dragon pyctured wyth an horryble figure. 1495 Trevisa's Barth. De P.R. xix. xxxvii. JJ v/2 He that pictureth ymages and lyknesse of thynges is callyd a payntour. 1600 Hakluyt Voy. III. 274 We haue seene and eaten of many more [fowl], which for want of leasure..could not be pictured. 1608 D. T[uvil] Ess. Pol. & Mor. 23 b, Hee was pictur'd out in the religious garment of a Monke. 1632 Massinger Emperor East i. ii, A cunning painter thus..would picture Justice. 1762–71 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) III. 61 On the ceiling..he has pictured Antony earl of Shaftsbury, in the character of Faction, dispersing libels. 1836 J. H. Newman in Lyra Apost. (1849) 64 Its pure, still glass Pictures all earth-scenes as they pass. |
b. To figure, to represent symbolically or by sensible signs.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 49 b, What these graces be, it is more playnly pictured & set forth in this tree folowyng. 1782 F. Burney Cecilia vii. vi, The anxiety of his mind was strongly pictured upon his face. 1857 Pusey Real Presence ii. (1869) 232 When the people were so much taught by the eye, it pictured to them the mysteries of the Redemption. |
2. To describe graphically, depict in words. Also with
out,
forth.
| 1585 J. Ferne Blaz. Gentrie To Gent. of Inner Temple, She pictureth out their base and seruile conditions. 1621 T. Williamson tr. Goulart's Wise Vieillard 98 Horace in his art of Poetrie doth pensill and picture out an old man in this manner. 1787 F. Burney Diary 26 Feb., I think this last sentence pictures him exactly. 1838 Carlyle Misc., Scott (1869) V. 217 To picture-forth the life of Scott. 1894 Besant Equal Woman 122 Such a woman as you have pictured is rare indeed. |
3. To resemble as a picture or image.
| 1850 F. Trollope Petticoat Govt. 138 Never, perhaps, did a child more accurately picture a parent, than Judith did her mother. |
4. To form a mental picture of, to imagine. Often
to picture to one's self.
| 1738 Glover Leonidas ii. 182 Imagination pictures all the scenes. 1832 H. Martineau Life in Wilds viii. 101 He had pictured to himself the settlement. 1835 James Gipsy i, He seemed to doubt the very love, the happiness of which he pictured so brightly. 1869 Huxley in Sci. Opinion 28 Apr. 487/1 Kant pictures to himself the universe as once an infinite expansion of formless and diffused matter. 1874 Green Short Hist. viii. §1. 449 We must not..picture the early Puritan as a gloomy fanatic. a 1906 Mod. Picture to yourself the predicament in which I found myself. 1923 Mind XXXII. 467 It is not asserted that the picture must have the same logical form as what it pictures, but that all pictures must have the logical form. |