What does "profile" mean?
Profile: (Paint & Sculp.) A human head represented sidewise, or in a side view; the side face or half face.
Additional senses
- 2.(a) (Arch.) A section of any member, made at right angles with its main lines, showing the exact shape of moldings and the like. (b) (Civil Engin.) A drawing exhibiting a vertical section of the ground along a surveyed line, or graded work, as of a railway, showing elevations, depressions, grades, etc. Profile paper (Civil Engin.), paper ruled with vertical and horizontal lines forming small oblong rectangles, adapted for drawing profiles.
- 3.to draw the outline of; to draw in profile, as an architectural member.
- 4.(Mech.) To shape the outline of an object by passing a cutter around it. Profiling machine, a jigging machine.
Sources
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
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- Published: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00 · Modified: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00