mask Hear it!

mask Definition

mask (mask, mäsk)

noun

  1. a covering for the face or part of the face, to conceal the identity
  2. anything that conceals or disguises
  3. a party, carnival, etc. where masks are worn; masquerade
  4. a person wearing a mask; masker
  5. a likeness of a person's face, or face and neck; specif.,
    1. a sculptured or molded likeness of the face
    2. a grotesque or comic representation of a face, worn to amuse or frighten, as at Halloween
    3. a sculptured head or face, often grotesque, used as an ornament, as on a building
    4. a figure of a head worn on the stage by an ancient Greek or Roman actor to identify a character and amplify the voice
  6. a protective covering for the face or head, as a wire screen [fencer's mask] or respirator [gas mask]
    1. a covering for the mouth and nose used in administering an anesthetic or oxygen
    2. a piece of gauze, etc. worn over the mouth and nose of a surgeon, etc. to prevent infection of a patient, instruments, etc. by exhaled matter
  8. a strip of darker color across an animal's eyes, as in the raccoon
  9. something serving to conceal artillery, military operations, etc. from observation
  10. an opaque or translucent material used to modify the exposure of selected areas of a photograph
  11. masque (senses & )
  12. Zool. a masklike formation about the head, as the enlarged lower lip of a dragonfly larva

Etymology: Fr masque < It maschera, mascara, a mask, prob. < Ar maskhara, a clown, buffoonery

transitive verb

  1. to conceal or cover with or as with a mask
  2. to conceal or disguise
  3. to make (a sound, smell, taste, etc.) less noticeable
  4. to protect by covering as with masking tape

intransitive verb

  1. to put on a mask, as for a masquerade
  2. to hide or disguise one's true motives, character, etc.

mask Synonyms

mask

n.

  1. A disguise

    cover, false face, veil, domino, hood, costume, theater device; see also camouflage 1, disguise.

  2. A protection

    safety mask, safety goggles, safety glasses, gas mask, catcher's mask, fencing mask, fireman's mask, welder's mask, respirator; see also protection 2.

  3. A masquerade

    revel, party, carnival; see masquerade.

mask Synonyms

mask

v.

cloak, conceal, veil; see disguise, hide 1.

Mask Hacker Definition
See Nemasks.
mask Usage Examples

Object

  • gunman: The refugees described how masked gunmen had given them only a few minutes to leave their homes.
  • tape: Smooth down the masking tape to ensure good contact.
  • intruder: A murder inquiry began with a major press appeal to try and find the two masked intruders responsible.

Converse of object

  • wear: Will wearing a mask protect me from pandemic flu?
  • carve: The leading characters wear painted masks carved of cypress wood, which form a spiritual focus for the performance.
  • mold: Injection molded face mask, cape and printed jumpsuit.

Adjective modifier

  • grotesque: The reed cover is pierced and carved with foliage and five grotesque masks.
  • funerary: Finally, marvel at museum facsimiles of some of Tutankhamun's greatest golden treasures, including the funerary mask.
  • protective: The basic individual protection against a biological agent attack is the wearing of the protective mask with hood attached.
  • facial: Homemade Facial Masks: Make a little time for some pampering with these homemade facial masks for each skin type.
  • solvent: Generally there is no point providing a solvent mask, since the solvent density generally does not provide a match to atomic features.
  • disposable: Includes four disposable masks ( OK to wear until soiled or damaged ) and important fitting instructions.

Modifies a noun

  • airway: In patients not requiring intubation, a laryngeal mask airway ( LMA ) or facemask was used.
  • making: Try your hand at mask making, egg decorating or badge making.

Noun used with modifier

  • subnet: Press the " Specify an IP address " radio button and enter the client's address and subnet mask in the space provided.
  • full-face: They are both well constructed and achieve a gas swap with a full-face mask in different ways but equally effectively.
  • oxygen: Get rid of oxygen mask, to avoid breathing in sea water.
  • gas: Everyone was issued with a gas mask, which they carried at all times.
  • dust: Fortunately we had come equipped with a bag of dust masks.
  • convolution: He proposed simple and small convolution masks in combination with the computation of the local variance using a moving window in the image.
mask Quotes

Un mari porte un masque avec le monde, et une grimace avec sa femme. A husbandwears a mask intheworld and a smirk withhis wife.

—Marivaux, Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de

The loathsome mask has fallen, the man remains Sceptreless, free, uncircumscribed, but man Equal, unclassed, tribeless, and nationless, Exempt from awe, worship, degree, the king Over himself; just, gentle, wise: but man Passionless?öno, yet free from guilt or pain, Which were, for his will made or suffered them, Nor yet exempt, though ruling them like slaves, From chance, and death, and mutability, The clogs of that which else might oversoar The loftiest star of unascended heaven, Pinnacled dim in the intense inane.

—Shelley, Percy Bysshe

I met Murder on the wayö He had a mask like Castlereagh.

—Shelley, Percy Bysshe

Theyare like a face full of character that intrigues and excites you, but that on closer acquaintance you discover is merely the mask of a vulgar soul. Such is Tourane.

—Maugham,W(illiam) Somerset

   Les vices, les abus, voila'   ce qui ne change point, mais se de¤  guise en mille formes sous le masque des moeurs dominantes: leur arracher ce masque et les montrer a' de¤  couvert, telle est la noble ta"  che de l'homme qui se voue au the¤  a"  tre. Vices, indulgences, these are the things which never change but which disguise themselves in a thousand forms beneath the mask of prevailing morals: to lift off this mask and expose them, this is the noble taskof the person who devotes himself to the theatre.

—Beaumarchais, Pierre Augustin Caron de

Year by year, the monkey's mask reveals the monkey

—Basho, Matsuo

  No mask like open truth to cover lies, As to go naked is the best disguise.

—Congreve,William

And it is a good sign that this masquerading knight- errant, this pretended champion of the rights of every other nation except those of the Irish nation, should be obliged to throw off the mask today, and to stand revealed as the man who by his own utterances is prepared to carry fire and sword into your homesteads unless you humbly abase yourselves before him, and before the landlords of the country.

—Parnell, Charles Stewart

Conventionality is not morality. Self-righteousness is not religion.To attack the first isnottoassail the last.To pluck the mask from the face of the Pharisee, is not to lift an impious hand to the Crown of Thorns.

—Bronte«  , Charlotte

Alles, was tief ist, liebt die Maske. Everything profound loves the mask.

—Nietzsche, FriedrichWilhelm

Everyone knowsthat thelabel Modern Art no longer has any relation to the words that compose it. To be Modern Art a work need not be either modern nor art; it need not even be a work. A three-thousand-year-old mask from the South Pacific qualifies as Modern and a piece of wood found on a beach becomes Art.

—Rosenberg, Harold

We wear the mask that grins and lies, It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes.

—Dunbar, Paul Laurence

Browse dictionary entries near mask

  1. ‹ masjid
  2. ‹ Masinissa
  3. ‹ mashing
  4. ‹ mashie
  5. ‹ Mashhad
  6. ‹ masher
  7. ‹ mashed
  8. ‹ mash note
  9. ‹ mash
  10. ‹ Maseru
  1. masked ›
  2. masked ball ›
  3. masker ›
  4. masking tape ›
  5. masochism ›
  6. mason ›
  7. mason bee ›
  8. Mason-Dixon line ›
  9. Mason jar ›
  10. mason wasp ›