Brewer's: Lay Figures

Wooden figures with free joints, used by artists chiefly for the study of drapery. This is a metaphorical use of lay. As divines divide the world into two parties, the ecclesiastics and the laity, so artists divide their models into two classes, the living and the lay.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Related Content