MASK • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Mask

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/mæsk/ Listen

noun

Mask n.

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. "This thought might lead me through the world's vain mask."

4.

A dramatic performance, formerly in vogue, in which the actors wore masks and represented mythical or allegorical characters.

5.

(Arch.) 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.

(Fort.)

(a)

In a permanent fortification, a redoubt which protects the caponiere.

(b)

A screen for a battery.

7.

(Zool.) The lower lip of the larva of a dragon fly, modified so as to form a prehensile organ.

8.

A person wearing a mask; a masker. "The mask that has the arm of the Indian queen."

9.

(Sporting) The head or face of a fox.

Mask house, a house for masquerades. (Obs.) Death mask, a cast of the face of a dead person.

verb

Mask v. t. (past & past part. masked; pres. part. masking)

1.

To cover, as the face, by way of concealment or defense against injury; to conceal with a mask or visor. "They must all be masked and vizarded."

2.

To disguise; to cover; to hide. "Masking the business from the common eye."

3.

(Mil.)

(a)

To conceal; also, to intervene in the line of.

(b)

To cover or keep in check; as, to mask a body of troops or a fortress by a superior force, while some hostile evolution is being carried out.

Mask v. i.

1.

To take part as a masker in a masquerade.

2.

To wear a mask; to be disguised in any way.

See images of 'Mask'

Etymology of 'Mask'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Mask" Quotes from Famous Books

... arm. The features too were worthy of notice. Line by line he studied them. From the high forehead which bulged over the clear blue eyes, to the delicately ovaled chin. The face was emotionless. Only the curve of the thin lips showed the man beneath the mask. The lips were ...

— El Diablo • Brayton Norton

... as I can remember, the oldest was about ten years of age, and the youngest about four, thinking that they knew more than I had yet discovered, in order to make them speak with less timidity, I deemed that if they were put under a sort of cover I might gain my end; and happening to have a mask in the house, I told them all to stand and speak boldly from under cover ...

— The Life of Charlotte Bronte - Volume 1 • Elizabeth Gaskell

... grew unbearably hot toward afternoon, a heat rather of July than June. After a visit to his camp Lestrange reappeared without the suffocating mask and cap, driving bareheaded, with only the narrow goggles crossing his face. The change left visible the drawn pallor of exhaustion under stains of dust and oil, his rolled-back sleeves disclosed the crimson bandage on his right arm and the fact that his left ...

— The Flying Mercury • Eleanor M. Ingram

... Margaret Hubert did not, at all times, display her real feelings. And her friend Lizzy Edgar was right in assuming that she was by no means indifferent to Mr. Clinton. The appearance of dislike was assumed as a mask, and the distance and reserve she displayed towards him were the offspring of a false pride and unwomanly self-esteem. The truth was, her heart had, almost unsought, been won. The manly bearing, personal grace ...

— Home Lights and Shadows • T. S. Arthur

... it and drank their coffee comfortably and with an air of confidence that deceived their servants, if it did not deceive themselves. But when they came down the path, smoking and swinging their sticks, and turned into the plaza, their composure left them like a mask, and they stopped where they stood. The plaza was enclosed by the natives gathered in whispering groups, and depressed by fear and wonder. On one side were crowded all the Messenwah warriors, unarmed, and as silent and disturbed ...

— Cinderella - And Other Stories • Richard Harding Davis

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