Picture

Picture Pic"ture, n. [L. pictura, fr. pingere, pictum, to paint: cf. F. peinture. See {Paint}.] 1. The art of painting; representation by painting. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]

Any well-expressed image . . . either in picture or sculpture. --Sir H. Wotton. [1913 Webster]

2. A representation of anything (as a person, a landscape, a building) upon canvas, paper, or other surface, produced by means of painting, drawing, engraving, photography, etc.; a representation in colors. By extension, a figure; a model. [1913 Webster]

Pictures and shapes are but secondary objects. --Bacon. [1913 Webster]

The young king's picture . . . in virgin wax. --Howell. [1913 Webster]

3. An image or resemblance; a representation, either to the eye or to the mind; that which, by its likeness, brings vividly to mind some other thing; as, a child is the picture of his father; the man is the picture of grief. [1913 Webster]

My eyes make pictures when they are shut. --Coleridge. [1913 Webster]

Note: Picture is often used adjectively, or in forming self-explaining compounds; as, picture book or picture-book, picture frame or picture-frame, picture seller or picture-seller, etc. [1913 Webster]

{Animated picture}, a moving picture.

{Picture gallery}, a gallery, or large apartment, devoted to the exhibition of pictures.

{Picture red}, a rod of metal tube fixed to the walls of a room, from which pictures are hung.

{Picture writing}. (a) The art of recording events, or of expressing messages, by means of pictures representing the actions or circumstances in question. --Tylor. (b) The record or message so represented; as, the picture writing of the American Indians. [1913 Webster]

Syn: {Picture}, {Painting}.

Usage: Every kind of representation by drawing or painting is a picture, whether made with oil colors, water colors, pencil, crayons, or India ink; strictly, a painting is a picture made by means of colored paints, usually applied moist with a brush. [1913 Webster]