Adjacent Words

Effigy definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

EF'FIGY, n. [L. effigies, from effingo, to fashion; ex and fingo, to form or devise.]
1. The image or likeness of a person; resemblance; representation; any substance fashioned into the shape of a person.
2. Portrait; likeness; figure, in sculpture or painting.
3. On coins,the print or impression representing the head of the prince who struck the coin.
To burn or hang in effigy, is to burn or hang an image or picture of the person intended to be executed, disgraced or degraded. In France,when a criminal cannot be apprehended, his picture is hung on a gallows or gibbet, at the bottom of which is written his sentence of condemnation.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a representation of a person (especially in the form of sculpture); "the coin bears an effigy of Lincoln"; "the emperor's tomb had his image carved in stone" [syn: effigy, image, simulacrum]

Merriam Webster's

noun (plural -gies) Etymology: Middle French effigie, from Latin effigies, from effingere to form, from ex- + fingere to shape — more at dough Date: 1539 an image or representation especially of a person; especially a crude figure representing a hated person

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. (pl. -ies) a sculpture or model of a person. Phrases and idioms: in effigy in the form of a (usu. crude) representation of a person. Etymology: L effigies f. effingere to fashion

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Effigy Ef"fi*gy, n.; pl. Effigies. [L. effigies, fr. effingere to form, fashion; ex + fingere to form, shape, devise. See Feign.] The image, likeness, or representation of a person, whether a full figure, or a part; an imitative figure; -- commonly applied to sculptured likenesses, as those on monuments, or to those of the heads of princes on coins and medals, sometimes applied to portraits. To burn, or To hang, in effigy, to burn or to hang an image or picture of a person, as a token of public odium.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(effigies) 1. An effigy is a quickly and roughly made figure, often ugly or amusing, that represents someone you hate or feel contempt for. N-COUNT 2. An effigy is a statue or carving of a famous person. (FORMAL) N-COUNT

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Image, figure, statue, representation, likeness, portrait, effigies. 2. Sepulchral statue, mortuary statue.

Moby Thesaurus

companion, copy, dead ringer, double, duplicate, exact likeness, fellow, icon, idol, image, likeness, living image, living picture, match, mate, miniature, mirroring, model, photograph, picture, portrait, reflection, resemblance, rubbing, semblance, shadow, similitude, simulacrum, spit and image, spitting image, trace, tracing, twin, very image, very picture