The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Lay \Lay\, n.
   1. That which lies or is laid or is conceived of as having
      been laid or placed in its position; a row; a stratum; a
      layer; as, a lay of stone or wood. --Addison.
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            A viol should have a lay of wire strings below.
                                                  --Bacon.
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   Note: The lay of a rope is right-handed or left-handed
         according to the hemp or strands are laid up. See
         Lay, v. t., 16. The lay of land is its topographical
         situation, esp. its slope and its surface features.
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   2. A wager. "My fortunes against any lay worth naming."
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   3.
      (a) A job, price, or profit. [Prov. Eng.] --Wright.
      (b) A share of the proceeds or profits of an enterprise;
          as, when a man ships for a whaling voyage, he agrees
          for a certain lay. [U. S.]
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   4. (Textile Manuf.)
      (a) A measure of yarn; a lea. See 1st Lea
      (a) .
      (b) The lathe of a loom. See Lathe, 3.
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   5. A plan; a scheme. [Slang] --Dickens.
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   Lay figure.
      (a) A jointed model of the human body that may be put in
          any attitude; -- used for showing the disposition of
          drapery, etc.
      (b) A mere puppet; one who serves the will of others
          without independent volition.

   Lay race, that part of a lay on which the shuttle travels
      in weaving; -- called also shuttle race.

   the lay of the land, the general situation or state of
      affairs.

   to get the lay of the land, to learn the general situation
      or state of affairs, especially in preparation for action.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Figure \Fig"ure\ (f[i^]g"[-u]r; 135), n. [F., figure, L. figura;
   akin to fingere to form, shape, feign. See Feign.]
   1. The form of anything; shape; outline; appearance.
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            Flowers have all exquisite figures.   --Bacon.
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   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.
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            A coin that bears the figure of an angel. --Shak.
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   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.
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   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.
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   5. The appearance or impression made by the conduct or career
      of a person; as, a sorry figure.
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            I made some figure there.             --Dryden.
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            Gentlemen of the best figure in the county.
                                                  --Blackstone.
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   6. Distinguished appearance; magnificence; conspicuous
      representation; splendor; show.
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            That he may live in figure and indulgence. --Law.
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   7. A character or symbol representing a number; a numeral; a
      digit; as, 1, 2,3, etc.
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   8. Value, as expressed in numbers; price; as, the goods are
      estimated or sold at a low figure. [Colloq.]
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            With nineteen thousand a year at the very lowest
            figure.                               --Thackeray.
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   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.
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            Who is the figure of Him that was to come. --Rom. v.
                                                  14.
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   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.
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             To represent the imagination under the figure of a
             wing.                                --Macaulay.
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   11. (Logic) The form of a syllogism with respect to the
       relative position of the middle term.
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   12. (Dancing) Any one of the several regular steps or
       movements made by a dancer.
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   13. (Astrol.) A horoscope; the diagram of the aspects of the
       astrological houses. --Johnson.
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   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.
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   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
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   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.
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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

lay figure
    n 1: dummy in the form of an artist's jointed model of the human
         body

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

82 Moby Thesaurus words for "lay figure":
   Charlie McCarthy, air brush, art paper, brush, bust, camera lucida,
   camera obscura, canvas, carving, chalk, charcoal, cipher,
   clay model, crayon, creature, doll, dolly, drawing paper,
   drawing pencil, drier, dud, dummy, easel, fantoccini, figure,
   figurehead, figurine, fixative, front, front man, gingerbread man,
   ground, hollow man, jackstraw, man of straw, manikin, mannequin,
   marionette, maulstick, medium, mock-up, model, monument, nebbish,
   nobody, nominal head, nonentity, nothing, nullity, paint,
   paintbrush, palette, palette knife, pastel, pencil, pigments,
   pilot model, portrait bust, puppet, pushover, scarecrow,
   scratchboard, sculpture, siccative, sketchbook, sketchpad, snowman,
   spatula, spray gun, statuary, statue, statuette, stooge, stump,
   thing of naught, trifle, varnish, wax figure, waxwork,
   wood carving, wood model, zero