Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A crude figure or dummy representing a hated person or group.
  • noun A likeness or image, especially of a person.
  • idiom (in effigy) Symbolically, especially in the form of an effigy.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A representation or imitation of any object, in whole or in part; an image or a representation of a person, whether of the whole figure, the bust, or the head alone; a likeness in sculpture, painting, or drawing; a portrait: most frequently applied to the figures on sepulchral monuments, and popularly to figures made up of stuffed clothing, etc., to represent obnoxious persons.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun 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.
  • noun to burn or to hang an image or picture of a person, as a token of public odium.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun a dummy or other crude representation of a person, group or object that is hated.
  • noun a likeness of a person.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a representation of a person (especially in the form of sculpture)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French effigie, from Latin effigiēs, likeness, from effingere, to portray : ex-, ex- + fingere, to shape; see dheigh- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French effigie, from Latin effigiēs ("likeness, effigy"), from effingō ("represent, portray").

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word effigy.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.