pic·ture / ˈpikchər/ • n. a painting or drawing: draw a picture of a tree. ∎  a photograph: we were warned not to take pictures. ∎  a portrait: have her picture painted. ∎ archaic a person or thing resembling another closely: she is the very picture of her mother. ∎ fig. an impression of something formed from an account or description: a full picture of the disaster had not yet emerged. ∎  an image on a television screen. ∎  a movie: it took five honors, including best picture. ∎  (the pictures) the movies: I'm going to the pictures with my buddies.• v. [tr.] (often be pictured) represent (someone or something) in a photograph or picture: he is pictured with party guests. ∎  describe (someone or something) in a certain way: the markets in London and New York are usually pictured in contrasting terms. ∎  form a mental image of: she pictured Benjamin waiting.PHRASES: be in pictures act in movies or work in the motion-picture industry.be (or look) a picture be beautiful.get the picture inf. understand a situation.in the picture fully informed about something.out of the picture no longer involved; irrelevant: hostages were better left out of the picture.the (or a) picture of —— the embodiment of a specified state or emotion: she looked the picture of forbearance. (as) pretty as a picture very pretty.

picture The principal means of defining data types in Cobol. The syntax of an elementary data item is defined by means of a character string. Simple examples are “A(20)” defining a string of 20 alphabetic characters, or “9(4)” defining a string of 4 digits. Particularly in the case of numeric items that are to be printed or displayed, the PICTURE clause provides considerable power: it is possible, for instance, to specify the position of the decimal point (explicit or implicit); the presence and position of the sign (+ or –) or of currency symbols; filling out digit strings with zeros or blanks (leading, embedded, or trailing); insertion of commas into long numbers. The MOVE verb, which is used to assign the value of one variable to another, automatically carries out format conversion according to the picture of the receiving item.

picture †pictorial representation XV; individual painting or drawing XV; visual impression, mental image; graphic description XVI. — L. pictūra painting, f. pict-, pp. stem of pingere PAINT, embroider.
Hence vb. XV. So picturesque XVIII. — (with assim. to prec., to express ‘in the style of a picture’) F. pittoresque — It. pittoresco ‘in the style of a painter’, f. pittore :- L. pictor, -tōr- painter, f. pict-.

picture the big picture the situation as a whole.
every picture tells a story proverbial saying, early 20th century; in Jane Eyre (1847), Charlotte Brontë had written for the child Jane, ‘The letter-press…I cared little for…Each picture told a story’.
one picture is worth ten thousand words proverbial saying, early 20th century (there is no basis for an ascription of Chinese origin which is sometimes made).