picture

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a visual representation (of an object or scene or person or abstraction) produced on a surface

   they showed us the pictures of their wedding

2. 2
   noun

   a typical example of some state or quality

   the very picture of a modern general

3. 3
   noun

   a clear and telling mental image

   They described their mental picture of the assailant.

4. 4
   noun

   the visible part of a television transmission

   they could still receive the sound but the picture was gone

5. 5
   noun

   illustrations used to decorate or explain a text

   the dictionary had many pictures

6. 6
   noun

   a graphic or vivid verbal description

   too often the narrative was interrupted by long word pictures

7. 7
   noun

   a situation treated as an observable object

   the political picture is favorable

8. 8
   noun

   A representation of anything (as a person, a landscape, a building) upon canvas, paper, or other surface, by drawing, painting, printing, photography, etc.

   Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out.[…]. Ikey the blacksmith had forged us a spearhead after a sketch from a picture of a Greek warrior; and a rake-handle served as a shaft.

Etymology

From Middle English pycture, from Old French picture, itself from Latin pictūra (“the art of painting, a painting”), from pingō (“to paint”). Doublet of pictura.