[1] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

figure \fig"ure\ fi^g"-ur; 135, n. f., figure, l. figura;
   akin to fingere to form, shape, feign. see feign.
   1. the form of anything; shape; outline; appearance.
      1913 webster

            flowers have all exquisite figures.   --bacon.
      1913 webster

   2. the representation of any form, as by drawing, painting,
      modeling, carving, embroidering, etc.; especially, a
      representation of the human body; as, a figure in bronze;
      a figure cut in marble.
      1913 webster

            a coin that bears the figure of an angel. --shak.
      1913 webster

   3. a pattern in cloth, paper, or other manufactured article;
      a design wrought out in a fabric; as, the muslin was of a
      pretty figure.
      1913 webster

   4. geom. a diagram or drawing, made to represent a
      magnitude or the relation of two or more magnitudes; a
      surface or space inclosed on all sides; -- called
      superficial when inclosed by lines, and solid when
      inclosed by surfaces; any arrangement made up of points,
      lines, angles, surfaces, etc.
      1913 webster

   5. the appearance or impression made by the conduct or career
      of a person; as, a sorry figure.
      1913 webster

            i made some figure there.             --dryden.
      1913 webster

            gentlemen of the best figure in the county.
                                                  --blackstone.
      1913 webster

   6. distinguished appearance; magnificence; conspicuous
      representation; splendor; show.
      1913 webster

            that he may live in figure and indulgence. --law.
      1913 webster

   7. a character or symbol representing a number; a numeral; a
      digit; as, 1, 2,3, etc.
      1913 webster

   8. value, as expressed in numbers; price; as, the goods are
      estimated or sold at a low figure. colloq.
      1913 webster

            with nineteen thousand a year at the very lowest
            figure.                               --thackeray.
      1913 webster

   9. a person, thing, or action, conceived of as analogous to
      another person, thing, or action, of which it thus becomes
      a type or representative.
      1913 webster

            who is the figure of him that was to come. --rom. v.
                                                  14.
      1913 webster

   10. rhet. a mode of expressing abstract or immaterial ideas
       by words which suggest pictures or images from the
       physical world; pictorial language; a trope; hence, any
       deviation from the plainest form of statement. also
       called a figure of speech.
       1913 webster

             to represent the imagination under the figure of a
             wing.                                --macaulay.
       1913 webster

   11. logic the form of a syllogism with respect to the
       relative position of the middle term.
       1913 webster

   12. dancing any one of the several regular steps or
       movements made by a dancer.
       1913 webster

   13. astrol. a horoscope; the diagram of the aspects of the
       astrological houses. --johnson.
       1913 webster

   14. music
       a any short succession of notes, either as melody or as
           a group of chords, which produce a single complete
           and distinct impression. --grove.
       b a form of melody or accompaniment kept up through a
           strain or passage; a musical phrase or motive; a
           florid embellishment.
           1913 webster

   note: figures are often written upon the staff in music to
         denote the kind of measure. they are usually in the
         form of a fraction, the upper figure showing how many
         notes of the kind indicated by the lower are contained
         in one measure or bar. thus, 2/4 signifies that the
         measure contains two quarter notes. the following are
         the principal figures used for this purpose: --
         2/22/42/8 4/22/44/8 3/23/43/8 6/46/46/8
         1913 webster

   academy figure, canceled figures, lay figure, etc. see
      under academy, cancel, lay, etc.

   figure caster, or figure flinger, an astrologer. "this
      figure caster." --milton.

   figure flinging, the practice of astrology.

   figure-of-eight knot, a knot shaped like the figure 8. see
      illust. under knot.

   figure painting, a picture of the human figure, or the act
      or art of depicting the human figure.

   figure stone min., agalmatolite.

   figure weaving, the art or process of weaving figured
      fabrics.

   to cut a figure, to make a display. colloq. --sir w.
      scott.
      1913 webster
see also:
feign figure of speech academy figure canceled figures lay figure academy 
cancel lay figure caster figure flinger figure flinging 
figure-of-eight knot knot figure painting figure stone figure weaving 
to cut a figure 

[2] : WordNet (r) 2.0

figure of speech
     n : language used in a figurative or nonliteral sense syn: trope,
          figure, image
see also:
trope figure image 

[3] : Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

72 moby thesaurus words for "figure of speech":
   adornment, alliteration, allusion, anacoluthon, anadiplosis,
   analogy, anaphora, anastrophe, antiphrasis, antithesis,
   antonomasia, apophasis, aporia, aposiopesis, apostrophe, beauties,
   catachresis, chiasmus, circumlocution, climax, colors,
   colors of rhetoric, conversion, ecphonesis, elegant variation,
   embellishment, embroidery, emphasis, exclamation, figure,
   fine writing, floridity, floridness, flourish, floweriness,
   flowers of speech, frill, gemination, hypallage, hyperbaton,
   hyperbole, inversion, irony, litotes, lushness, luxuriance,
   malapropism, meiosis, metaphor, metonymy, onomatopoeia, ornament,
   ornamentation, oxymoron, paregmenon, parenthesis, periphrasis,
   personification, pleonasm, preterition, prolepsis, purple patches,
   regression, repetition, sarcasm, simile, similitude, spoonerism,
   syllepsis, symploce, synecdoche, zeugma

Figure >> F Words
Figure, definition of term: Figure
figure_pag1.html

Speech >> S Words
Speech, definition of term: Speech
speech_pag1.html

Speech Sound >> S Words
Speech Sound, definition of term: Speech Sound
speech+sound_pag1.html

Figure Out >> F Words
Figure Out, definition of term: Figure Out
figure+out_pag1.html

Speech Recognit >> S Words
Speech Recognit, definition of term: Speech Recognit
speech+recognit_pag1.html

Speech Act >> S Words
Speech Act, definition of term: Speech Act
speech+act_pag1.html

Oblique Speech >> O Words
Oblique Speech, definition of term: Oblique Speech
oblique+speech_pag1.html

Figure Of Speec >> F Words
Figure Of Speec, definition of term: Figure Of Speec
figure+of+speec_pag1.html

Part Of Speech >> P Words
Part Of Speech, definition of term: Part Of Speech
part+of+speech_pag1.html