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1 Mask

Mask

Etymology

French masque, Late Latin masca, mascha, mascus; compare Spanish and Portuguese máscara, Italian maschera, German Maske; all from Arabic maskharat buffoon, fool, pleasantry, anything ridiculous or mirthful, from sakhira to ridicule, to laugh at. Compare masque, masquerade

Noun

  1. A cover, or partial cover, for the face, used for disguise or protection; as, a dancer's mask; a fencer's mask; a ball player's mask.
  2. That which disguises; a pretext or subterfuge.
  3. A festive entertainment of dancing or other diversions, where all wear masks; a masquerade; hence, a revel; a frolic; a delusive show - Bacon
    Quotations
  4. A dramatic performance, formerly in vogue, in which the actors wore masks and represented mythical or allegorical characters.
  5. (Architecture): A grotesque head or face, used to adorn keystones and other prominent parts, to spout water in fountains, and the like; -- called also mascaron.
  6. (Fortification) In a permanent fortification, a redoubt which protects the caponiere.
  7. (Fortification): A screen for a battery
  8. (Zoölogy): The lower lip of the larva of a dragon fly, modified so as to form a prehensile organ.

Derived expressions

  • Mask house, (Obsolete), a house for masquerades

Transitive verb

Imperfect and past participle: Masked
Present participle: Masking
  1. To cover, as the face, by way of concealment or defense against injury; to conceal with a mask or visor.
    Quotations
    • They must all be masked and vizarded - Shakespeare, Merry Wives of Windsor, IV,vi
  2. To disguise; to cover; to hide.
    Quotations
    • Masking the business from the common eye - Shakespeare, Macbeth, III-i
  3. (Military): To conceal; also, to intervene in the line of.
  4. (Military): To cover or keep in check; as, to mask a body of troops or a fortess by a superior force, while some hostile evolution is being carried out

Intransitive verb

  1. To take part as a masker in a masquerade - Cavendish
  2. To wear a mask; to be disguised in any way - Shakespeare



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