"lay figure" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "lay figures",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "lay figure (plural lay figures)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "77 23",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "83 17",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "91 9",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1828, JT Smith, Nollekens and His Times, Century Hutchinson, published 1986, page 243:",
          "text": "‘I have a great mind to break all your gashly images about the head of your fine Miss, in her silks and satins;’—mistaking his lay-figure for a living model of the highest sort.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1984, Anita Brookner, Hotel du Lac, Penguin, published 2016, page 76:",
          "text": "‘I rather thought I was useful as an audience, but only as a lay figure is useful to a painter: both can be put aside when no longer required.’",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A jointed model of the human body used by artists, or to display clothes."
      ],
      "id": "en-lay_figure-en-noun-G4GBhaoL",
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "sense": "jointed model of human body",
          "word": "dummy"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "sense": "jointed model of human body",
          "word": "mannequin"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "An unimportant person; a character (especially in fiction) lacking individuality."
      ],
      "id": "en-lay_figure-en-noun-MBT0w5gk",
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "7 93",
          "sense": "unimportant person",
          "word": "Joe Average"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "lay figure"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "lay figures",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "lay figure (plural lay figures)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1828, JT Smith, Nollekens and His Times, Century Hutchinson, published 1986, page 243:",
          "text": "‘I have a great mind to break all your gashly images about the head of your fine Miss, in her silks and satins;’—mistaking his lay-figure for a living model of the highest sort.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1984, Anita Brookner, Hotel du Lac, Penguin, published 2016, page 76:",
          "text": "‘I rather thought I was useful as an audience, but only as a lay figure is useful to a painter: both can be put aside when no longer required.’",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A jointed model of the human body used by artists, or to display clothes."
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "An unimportant person; a character (especially in fiction) lacking individuality."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "sense": "jointed model of human body",
      "word": "dummy"
    },
    {
      "sense": "jointed model of human body",
      "word": "mannequin"
    },
    {
      "sense": "unimportant person",
      "word": "Joe Average"
    }
  ],
  "word": "lay figure"
}