Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A life-size full or partial representation of the human body, used for the fitting or displaying of clothes; a dummy.
  • noun A jointed model of the human body used by artists, especially to demonstrate the arrangement of drapery.
  • noun One who models clothes; a model.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun a woman who wears clothes to display fashions; a fashion model.
  • noun A three-dimensional model of a person, used to display clothes, especially in retail stores and in window displays; a dummy.
  • noun A model of a human form used by tailors to help make clothing of the proper shape.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A dummy, or life-size model of the human body, used for the fitting or displaying of clothes
  • noun A jointed model of the human body used by artists, especially to demonstrate the arrangement of drapery
  • noun An anatomical model of the human body for use in teaching of e.g. CPR
  • noun A person who models clothes

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a life-size dummy used to display clothes
  • noun a woman who wears clothes to display fashions

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French, from Old French, little man, figurine, from Middle Dutch mannekijn; see manikin.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From the French mannequin, from the Dutch manneken ("little man"), diminutive of Dutch man ("man"), equivalent to man +‎ -kin. More at man, -kin.

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Examples

Comments

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  • A human or a life-size model of a human figure used to display clothes.

    September 28, 2008

  • I've been feeling down

    I've been looking round the town

    For somebody just like me

    But the only ones I see

    Are the dummies in the window

    They spend their money on clothes

    It saddens me to think

    That the only ones I see are mannequins

    Looking stupid, being used and being thin

    And I don't know why I hang around with them

    The way they act, I'd rather be fat than be confused

    The way they act, I'd rather be fat than be confused

    Than be me in a cage

    With a bottle of rage

    And a family like the mafia.

    (Family tree, by Belle and Sebastian)

    September 29, 2008

  • He can't sing, but mannequin dance!

    September 29, 2008

  • *loves dontcry for her magnificent pun*

    September 29, 2008