Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PRO'FILE, n. [pro'fil; Fr. profil; pro and fil; It. profilo; Sp. and Port. perfil; per and fil, L. filum, a thread or line.]

1. Primarily, an outline or contour; hence, in sculpture and painting, a head or portrait represented sidewise or in a side view; the side face or half face; as, to draw or appear in profile; the profile of Pope or Addison.
2. In architecture, the contour or outline of a figure, building or member; also, the draught of a building, representing it as if cut down perpendicularly from the roof to the foundation. – Encyc.