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mask

Pronunciation: /mɑːsk/

The English word “mask” has 20 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A cover, or partial cover, for the face, used for disguise or protection.
  2. That which disguises; a pretext or subterfuge.
  3. Appearance, likeness.
  4. A festive entertainment of dancing or other diversions, where all wear masks; a masquerade.
  5. A person wearing a mask.
  6. A dramatic performance in which the actors wore masks and represented mythical or allegorical characters.
  7. A grotesque head or face, used to adorn keystones and other prominent parts, to spout water in fountains, and the like.
  8. In a permanent fortification, a redoubt which protects the caponiere.
  9. A screen for a battery.
  10. The lower lip of the larva of a dragonfly, modified so as to form a prehensile organ.
  11. A flat covering used to block off an unwanted portion of a scene or image.
  12. A pattern of bits used in bitwise operations; bitmask.
  13. A two-color (black and white) bitmap generated from an image, used to create transparency in the image.
  14. The black fur around a racoon's eyes.
  15. The head of a fox, shown face-on and cut off immediately behind the ears.

verb

  1. To cover (the face or something else), in order to conceal the identity or protect against injury; to cover with a mask or visor.
  2. To disguise as something else.
  3. To conceal from view or knowledge; to cover; to hide.
  4. To conceal; also, to intervene in the line of.
  5. To cover or keep in check.

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 mascara, masque, and mesh. Replaced Old English grīma (“mask”), whence grime,…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.