a visual representation (of an object or scene or person or abstraction) produced on a surface
<noun.artifact> they showed us the pictures of their wedding a movie is a series of images projected so rapidly that the eye integrates them
graphic art consisting of an artistic composition made by applying paints to a surface
<noun.artifact> a small painting by Picasso he bought the painting as an investment his pictures hang in the Louvre
a clear and telling mental image
<noun.cognition> he described his mental picture of his assailant he had no clear picture of himself or his world the events left a permanent impression in his mind
a situation treated as an observable object
<noun.state> the political picture is favorable the religious scene in England has changed in the last century
illustrations used to decorate or explain a text
<noun.communication> the dictionary had many pictures
a form of entertainment that enacts a story by sound and a sequence of images giving the illusion of continuous movement
<noun.communication> they went to a movie every Saturday night the film was shot on location
the visible part of a television transmission
<noun.communication> they could still receive the sound but the picture was gone
a graphic or vivid verbal description
<noun.communication> too often the narrative was interrupted by long word pictures the author gives a depressing picture of life in Poland the pamphlet contained brief characterizations of famous Vermonters
a typical example of some state or quality
<noun.cognition> the very picture of a modern general she was the picture of despair
a representation of a person or scene in the form of a print or transparent slide; recorded by a camera on light-sensitive material
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.]
Any well-expressed image . . . either in picture or sculpture. --Sir H. Wotton.
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.
Pictures and shapes are but secondary objects. --Bacon.
The young king's picture . . . in virgin wax. --Howell.
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.
My eyes make pictures when they are shut. --Coleridge.
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.
{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.
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.
Picture \Pic"ture\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Pictured}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Picturing}.] To draw or paint a resemblance of; to delineate; to represent; to form or present an ideal likeness of; to bring before the mind. ``I . . . do picture it in my mind.'' --Spenser.
I have not seen him so pictured. --Shak.
There even is a picture of heavyweight boxer Oscar Bonavena, who was gunned down at the gates of the Mustang in 1976 by Conforte bodyguard Willard Ross Brymer.
Faculty members say the focus is on the big picture, like ethics questions in the marketplace, not table manners.
The picture is especially vague about whether or how Ms. Hearst was brainwashed.
Sunday's typewritten Arabic statement was not accompanied by a picture of Higgins, the usual sign of authenticity.
The six-month period provides a better picture of the companies' sales than the 10-day periods.
Just where does the innocent family snapshot or the sensitive portrait of a young person differ from a naked picture sold to pederasts and prosecutable under the law?
The FT-SE Mid 250 Index shed 2.2 to 3,500.2 as buyers continued to back away across the broad range of the market. A more revealing picture of the day's trading came from the official business volume figures.
"The picture is one we're constantly evaluating, and if we find we're falling short within an area we know we can do better, we're going to be seeking those additional funds," he said.
Re-equipping the Reichsbahn is only part of the picture, though.
And that changes politics." EDITOR'S NOTE _ Bill Huggins, born in London, is a photographer and picture editor who retired from The Associated Press earlier this year.
"The heavy oil is less and less attractive in today's green-type environment, but if they give us the linkage of exploring lighter crude areas, it will change the picture considerably," says an official of one oil company holding talks with PDVSA.
New condominium and industrial projects had eradicated many of the state's farmlands - the very scenery tourists came to New Hampshire to see. The economic picture in Vermont, while not exactly up-beat, is better than that of its eastern neighbour.
The picture has a fluid momentum, beautifully sustained by Sue Gibson's gifted camera work and John Altman's breezy score.
The picture that emerges from all of this is one of the SEC as an ineffective, highly politicized agency that wastes a tremendous amount of resources in turf-grabbing.
A series of state polls provided a picture of several close races.
Legislator Dedi Zucker of the Citizens' Rights Movement said the Nablus ceremony was "part of a much larger picture" of Shamir's drive to create more settlements in the occupied lands.
The picture could also be more accurate despite the confusing presentation of the change.
But the picture quality still is lower than what is provided by normal television broadcasts.
Thus, he starts with a ten-page biography of Bull which might have come out of the FT; he paints a professional picture of Operation Storm.
Yet few analysts say Elsevier's bid is out of the picture.
Time asserted in the agreement that even if the sailor was Mendonsa, the magazine was entitled to use the picture under the First Amendment of the Constitution.
The picture won't be as clear as a photograph, but both companies are working on technology to improve the quality of the prints.
"Someone said, and I guess it's true, that `What you were really playing in that picture was a peeping tom,"' the 80-year-old Stewart said. "That's exactly what I was doing.
They said other studies were too small to give a true picture of the effects of the drugs.
If a picture opens to medium business and starts to surprise, it's important to add theaters right away.
This was always a false one-dimensional picture and during the 1980s it became a sad delusion.
Even better, he then goes on to interview and observe people with a mixture of sympathy and detachment; and the conversations he has with farmers and town dwellers alike combine to offer the reader an unusually vivid and precise picture of rural France.
The one constant on the board is a photocopied newspaper picture of President Saddam Hussein of Iraq hugging a detained child next to one of Hitler in virtually the same pose. "History Repeats Itself!" is scrawled under it with red felt marker.
Colin Powell, the chairman of the joint chiefs, is supposed to present a "big picture" for the military in planning defense strategies and budgets.
Scrawled across the picture is the message, "Bob, What a night!