The bare figures (5)
I believe the answer is:
nudes
'the bare figures' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both man-made objects as well as being plural nouns.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I can't see?
'bare figures' is the wordplay.
'bare' becomes 'nude' (synonyms).
'figures' becomes 's' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'nude'+'s'='NUDES'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for nudes that I've seen before include "Unclothed people" , "They wear nothing" , "page-three features?" , "Naked figures in paintings" , "They're uncovered" .)