Noah Webster
Figurative
FIG'URATIVE, adjective
1. Representing something else; representing by resemblance; typical.
This they will say, was figurative and served by God's appointment but for a time, to shadow out the true glory of a more divine sanctity.
2. Representing by resemblance; not literal or direct. A figurative expression, is one in which the words are used in a sense different from that in which they are ordinarily used as,
Slander, whose edge is sharper than the sword.
3. Abounding with figures of speech; as a description highly figurative