mask

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   activity that tries to conceal something

   No mask could conceal their true intentions.

2. 2
   verb

   cover with a sauce

   mask the meat

3. 3
   verb

   hide under a false appearance

   They masked their disappointment.

4. 4
   verb

   make unrecognizable

   The herb masks the garlic taste

5. 5
   noun

   A cover, or partial cover, for the face, used for disguise or protection.

   a dancer's mask; a fencer's mask; a ball player's mask

6. 6
   noun

   That which disguises; a pretext or subterfuge.

   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.

7. 7
   noun

   Appearance, likeness.

   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.

8. 8
   noun

   A festive entertainment of dancing or other diversions, where all wear masks; a masquerade.

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

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 and mask (“mesh”) (below at Etymology 2) are inherited. Doublet of masque and mesh. Replaced Old English grīma (“mask”), whence grime, and displaced non-native Middle English viser (“visor, mask”) borrowed from Old French viser, visier.