mask
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /mɑːsk/
ipa: /mask/
ipa: /mæsk/
homophone: Marske
homophone: masque
homophone: masc stripped-by-parse_pron_post_template_fn
rhymes: -æsk
rhymes: -ɑːsk
Forms: form: masks
form: masque
Etymology: Borrowed from Middle French masque (“a covering to hide or protect the face”), from Italian maschera (“mask, disguise”), from (a byform of, see it for more) Medieval Latin masca, mascha, a borrowing of Proto-West Germanic *maskā from which English mesh is regularly inherited.
Replaced Old English grīma (“mask”), whence grime, and displaced non-native Middle English viser (“visor, mask”) borrowed from Old French viser, visier.
Compare also Hebrew מַסֵּכָה (masseiḥa).
Senses: examples: text: a dancer's mask; a fencer's mask; a ball player's mask
text: Just a few days ago, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—the CDC—issued new mask guidelines.
Under these new guidelines, most Americans in most of the country can now be mask free.
And based on the projections, more of the country will reach that point across the next couple of weeks.
ref: 2022 March 1, Joe Biden, “Remarks of President Joe Biden – State of the Union Address As Prepared for Delivery”, in whitehouse.gov, archived from the original on 02 Mar 2022:
glosses: A cover, or partial cover, for the face, used for disguise or protection.
examples: text: Grouchy and wary and tender, he’s a sozzled hedonist seemingly out for himself—though his party-animal facade is just a mask for his bottomless generosity.
ref: 2021 October 26, Stephanie Zacharek, “The 19 Most Underrated Movies on Netflix”, in Time:
glosses: That which disguises; a pretext or subterfuge.
examples: text: Come then, pure hands, and bear the head
⁠That sleeps or wears the mask of sleep,
⁠And come, whatever loves to weep,
And hear the ritual of the dead.
ref: 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XVIII”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 30:
glosses: Appearance, likeness.
examples: text: This thought might lead me through the world's vain mask.
ref: 1667, John Milton, “(please specify the page number)”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
glosses: A festive entertainment of dancing or other diversions, where all wear masks; a masquerade.
examples: text: the mask that has the arm of the Indian queen
ref: 1880, George Washington Cable, The Grandissimes: A Story of Creole Life:
text: Jones, now taking the mask by the hand, fell to entreating her in the most earnest manner, to acquaint him where he might find Sophia; and when he could obtain no direct answer, he began to upbraid her gently […]
ref: 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling:
glosses: A person wearing a mask.
glosses: A dramatic performance in which the actors wore masks and represented mythical or allegorical characters.
topics: architecture
synonyms: mascaron
glosses: A grotesque head or face, used to adorn keystones and other prominent parts, to spout water in fountains, and the like.
topics: fortification
fortifications
government
military
politics
war
glosses: In a permanent fortification, a redoubt which protects the caponiere.
topics: fortification
fortifications
government
military
politics
war
glosses: A screen for a battery.
topics: biology
natural-sciences
zoology
glosses: The lower lip of the larva of a dragonfly, modified so as to form a prehensile organ.
topics: broadcasting
film
media
publishing
television
glosses: A flat covering used to block off an unwanted portion of a scene or image.
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
programming
sciences
glosses: A pattern of bits used in bitwise operations; bitmask.
topics: computer-graphics
computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: A two-color (black and white) bitmap generated from an image, used to create transparency in the image.
topics: government
heraldry
hobbies
lifestyle
monarchy
nobility
politics
glosses: The head of a fox, shown face-on and cut off immediately behind the ears.
Synonyms: word: vizard
Hyponyms: sense: a cover for the face
word: domino mask
sense: a cover for the face
word: sleep mask
Derived terms: antimask
anti-mask
antimasker
bag valve mask
bar mask
beard mask
bemask
birdcage mask
catcher's mask
comedy mask
death mask
deathmask
demask
dismask
diving mask
domino mask
drama mask
dust mask
eye mask
eyemask
facemask
face mask
facial mask
filemask
finger mask
flu mask
gasmask
gas mask
hair mask
half-mask
Hannibal Lecter mask
hostmask
immask
Jason mask
keymask
life mask
lion mask
maskability
mask acne
maskee
maskery
maskette
maskfish
maskful
maskhole
mask house
maskless
masklike
maskmaker
maskne
mask-off moment
mask of pregnancy
mask shell
masktard
mask work
nano mask
nanomask
netmask
oxygen mask
paint mask
Parkinson's mask
photomask
pregnancy mask
procedure mask
pro-mask
promask
pro-masker
remask
riot mask
SARS mask
screen mask
shadow mask
sheet mask
ski mask
sleep mask
slitmask
softmask
solder mask
spit mask
surgical mask
take the mask off
tragedy mask
war-mask