ape vs lay figure

ape

noun
  • An uncivilized person. 

  • Any such primate other than a human. 

  • A primate of the clade Hominoidea, generally larger than monkeys and distinguished from them by having no tail. 

  • One who apes; a foolish imitator. 

verb
  • To imitate or mimic, particularly to imitate poorly. 

  • To behave like an ape. 

adj
  • Wild; crazy. 

lay figure

noun
  • An unimportant person; a character (especially in fiction) lacking individuality. 

  • A jointed model of the human body used by artists, or to display clothes. 

How often have the words ape and lay figure occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )