in general, something marked with figures.

The term figured is chiefly applied to stuffs, whereon the figures of flowers, and the like, are either wrought or stamped.

in Music, is applied either to simple notes or to harmony: to simple notes, as in these words figured bass, to express a bass whose notes carrying chords are subdivided into many other notes of lesser value: to harmony, when, by supposition and in a diatonic procedure, other notes than those which form the chord are employed. See Supposition.

To figure is to pair several notes for one; to form runnings or variations; to add some notes to the air, in whatever manner it be done; in short, it is to give to harmonious sounds a figure of melody, by connecting them with other intermediate sounds.