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Green’s Dictionary of Slang

figure v.

also figger

[SE figure, to reckon, to calculate, to ascertain]

(US) to think of a person or object in a given way; usu. figure him/her for...

1927		H.C. Witwer Classics in Sl. 14: They got Pete figured for a hick.
1933		‘Paul Cain’ ‘One, Two, Three’ in Penzler Pulp Fiction (2006) 10: He might figure me for a dick and scram.
1938		D. Runyon ‘The Three Wise Guys’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 410: Everybody figures Joseph Hatcher is guilty.
1940		W.R. Burnett High Sierra in Four Novels (1984) 343: Figures you for some dough, I guess. You look sort of prosperous.
1953		‘Ed McBain’ Cop Hater 109: ‘I figure this for some screwball,’ Frick said. ‘Got himself a peeve, figured he’d go out and shoot somebody’.
2008		T. Wolff ‘Awaiting Orders’ in Our Story Begins 278: Morse gave nothing away [...] He figured these men for army narcs.

In phrases

that figures (also figures, it figures)

(orig. US) that’s right, that adds up as it should.

1952		B. Wolfe Limbo (1953) IV 213: That figures, all right... It’s kind of a startling idea, but it figures [OED].
1970		T. Southern Blue Movie (1974) 23: Yeah, well, that figures.
1982		G.V. Higgins Patriot Game (1985) 61: ‘Harrington bought the ranch.’ ‘Figures.’.
1999		Guardian Guide 13–19 Nov. 75: Even Daily Mail pin-up Carol Smillie guests in tonight’s episode. It figures.
2000		P. Cornwell Last Precinct 233: That fucking figures.