FIGUREHEAD

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does figurehead mean? 

• FIGUREHEAD (noun)
  The noun FIGUREHEAD has 2 senses:

1. a person used as a cover for some questionable activity

2. figure on the bow of some sailing vessels

  Familiarity information: FIGUREHEAD used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FIGUREHEAD (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A person used as a cover for some questionable activity

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

figurehead; front; front man; nominal head; straw man; strawman

Hypernyms ("figurehead" is a kind of...):

beguiler; cheat; cheater; deceiver; slicker; trickster (someone who leads you to believe something that is not true)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Figure on the bow of some sailing vessels

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("figurehead" is a kind of...):

figure (a model of a bodily form (especially of a person))

 Context examples 

I saw the most wonderful figureheads, that had all been far over the ocean.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The Hispaniola lay some way out, and we went under the figureheads and round the sterns of many other ships, and their cables sometimes grated underneath our keel, and sometimes swung above us.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

“And a brave lad you were, and smart too,” answered Silver, shaking hands so heartily that all the barrel shook, “and a finer figurehead for a gentleman of fortune I never clapped my eyes on.”

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)