Grimace
Grimace (grim"is or gri*mās") , noun
[French, prob. of Teutonic origin; compare Anglo-Saxon grīma mask, specter, Icelandic grīma mask, hood, perh. akin to English grin.]
A distortion of the countenance, whether habitual, from affectation, or momentary and occasional, to express some feeling, as contempt, disapprobation, complacency, etc.; a smirk; a made-up face.
Moving his face into such a hideous grimace, that every feature of it appeared under a different distortion.
“Half the French words used affectedly by Melantha in Dryden's ‘Marriage a-la-Mode,” as innovations in our language, are now in common use: chagrin, double-entendre, éclaircissement, embarras, équivoque, foible, grimace, naivete, ridicule. All these words, which she learns by heart to use occasionally, are now in common use.” I. Disraeli.
Grimace , intransitive verb
To make grimaces; to distort one's face; to make faces. — H. Martineau