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American Dictionary of the English Language

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Effigy


EF'FIGY, noun [Latin effigies, from effingo, to fashion; ex and fingo, to form or devise.]

1. The image or likeness of a person; resemblance; representation; any substance fashioned into the shape of a person.

2. Portrait; likeness; figure, in sculpture or painting.

3. On coins, the print or impression representing the head of the prince who struck the coin.

To burn or hang in effigy is to burn or hang an image or picture of the person intended to be executed, disgraced or degraded. In France, when a criminal cannot be apprehended, his picture is hung on a gallows or gibbet, at the bottom of which is written his sentence of condemnation.