Mask
Mask (mȧsk) , noun
[French masque, Late Latin masca, mascha, mascus; compare Sp. & Portuguese máscara, Italian maschera; all from Arabic maskharat buffoon, fool, pleasantry, anything ridiculous or mirthful, from sakhira to ridicule, to laugh at. Compare Masque, Masquerade.]
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
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.
(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.
(a) (Fortification) In a permanent fortification, a redoubt which protects the caponiere.
(b)
(Fortification) A screen for a battery.
7.
(Zoology) 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.
Collocations (1)
Mask house , a house for masquerades. [Obsolete]
Mask , transitive verb
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.
(a) (Military) To conceal; also, to intervene in the line of.
(b)
(Military) 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 , 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