A model is simply a copy of an original object. Usually, a model is smaller (but yet proportional) to the original object. There are many distant things that are too large to move around, such as landforms. Small models of such objects allow the majority to see what something is like. Other things, like a bird’s lungs, are hard to get to; you’d have to kill the bird to see its lungs. Models of such things allow us to see something that we probably wouldn’t see otherwise. Then there are things, like a plant cell, that are too small for us to see. Large models of such objects allow us to see them without looking through a microscope. All in all, models make it easier to see things.

Mod"el (?), n. [F. modele, It. modello, fr. (assumed) L. modellus, fr. modulus a small measure, dim. of modus. See Mode, and cf. Module.]

1.

A miniature representation of a thing, with the several parts in due proportion; sometimes, a facsimile of the same size.

In charts, in maps, and eke in models made. Gascoigne.

I had my father's signet in my purse, Which was the model of that Danish seal. Shak.

You have the models of several ancient temples, though the temples and the gods are perished. Addison.

2.

Something intended to serve, or that may serve, as a pattern of something to be made; a material representation or embodiment of an ideal; sometimes, a drawing; a plan; as, the clay model of a sculpture; the inventor's model of a machine.

[The application for a patent] must be accompanied by a full description of the invention, with drawings and a model where the case admits of it. Am. Cyc.

When we mean to build We first survey the plot, then draw the model. Shak.

3.

Anything which serves, or may serve, as an example for imitation; as, a government formed on the model of the American constitution; a model of eloquence, virtue, or behavior.

4.

That by which a thing is to be measured; standard.

He that despairs measures Providence by his own little, contracted model. South.

5.

Any copy, or resemblance, more or less exact.

Thou seest thy wretched brother die, Who was the model of thy father's life. Shak.

6.

A person who poses as a pattern to an artist.

A professional model. H. James.

Working model, a model of a machine which can do on a small scale the work which the machine itself does, or expected to do.

 

© Webster 1913.


Mod"el (?), a.

Suitable to be taken as a model or pattern; as, a model house; a model husband.

 

© Webster 1913.


Mod"el, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Modeled (?) or Modelled; p. pr. & vb. n. Modeling or Modelling.] [Cf. F. modeler, It. modellare.]

To plan or form after a pattern; to form in model; to form a model or pattern for; to shape; to mold; to fashion; as, to model a house or a government; to model an edifice according to the plan delineated.

 

© Webster 1913.


Mod"el, v. i. Fine Arts

To make a copy or a pattern; to design or imitate forms; as, to model in wax.

 

© Webster 1913.

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