effigy

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English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈɛfəd͡ʒi/
  • (file)

Noun

effigy (plural effigies)

  1. A dummy or other crude representation of a person, group or object that is hated.
    In England on Bonfire Night, an effigy is often burned.
  2. A likeness of a person.
    • 1906, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], Time and the Gods, London: William Heineman, →OCLC, page 1:
      All around, terrace by terrace, there went marble lawns well guarded by onyx lions and carved with effigies of all the gods striding amid the symbols of the worlds.

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