Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Model \Mod"el\, n. [F. mod[`e]le, 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.