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mask

Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2012 12:44 pm
by eberntson
mask noun

1 a (1): a cover or partial cover for the face used for disguise (2): a person wearing a mask : masker

b (1): a figure of a head worn on the stage in antiquity to identify the character and project the voice (2): a grotesque false face worn at carnivals or in rituals

c: an often grotesque carved head or face used as an ornament (as on a keystone)

d: a sculptured face or a copy of a face made by means of a mold

2 a: something that serves to conceal or disguise : pretense, cloak <aware of the masks, facades and defenses people erect to protect themselves — Kenneth Keniston>

b: something that conceals from view

c: a translucent or opaque screen to cover part of the sensitive surface in taking or printing a photograph

d: a pattern of opaque material used to shield selected areas of a surface (as of a semiconductor) in deposition or etching (as in producing an integrated circuit)

3 a: a protective covering for the face

b: gas mask

c: a device covering the mouth and nose to facilitate inhalation

d: a comparable device to prevent exhalation of infective material

e: a cosmetic preparation for the skin of the face that produces a tightening effect as it dries

4 a: the head or face of an animal (as a fox or dog)

b: an area (as the one around the eyes) of an animal's face that is distinguished by usually darker coloring

src: Merriam-Webster

Here is an illustration: http://thisisnthappiness.com/post/33645 ... e-up-is-me

Anoth one of these common words that has a myriad of uses.

Re: mask

Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2012 12:52 pm
by Perry Lassiter
Fascinating the variety, isn't it? "He masked his disgust with the facade of a smile."

Re: mask

Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2012 2:02 pm
by eberntson
Yes, the verb is fascinating also. I'm surprised that Merriam-Webster said it was first used in 1534. I would have thought it was a lot older.
E:-]

Re: mask

Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2012 3:52 pm
by Perry Lassiter
English doesn't get much older than 1534. I understand prior to that they all sat around eating PIE.

Re: mask

Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2012 4:46 pm
by Slava
PIE actually goes back a lot further. Some 7,000 years or so. Though his English is nearly incomprehensible to modern readers, Chaucer was active the the late 1300s.

Re: mask

Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2012 5:54 pm
by eberntson
Sorry, I didn't explain completely 1532 Italian. So you must mean a PIZZA PIE... although I think that is redundant.

8)

Re: mask

Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2012 6:26 pm
by Philip Hudson
Last night at the church gym, the desk attendant, a high school senior, was reading Beowulf in Old English, not Beowulf in modern English. These honors classes in high school surely require more than classes did in my day. I had to learn to read Middle English (Chaucer), but not Old English. By the standard of many other languages, English is not very old. But it does go back to the time after the Anglo-Saxon invasion of England and that's a fur piece back.

Webster's 1530's origin of mask may be masked by the previous use by English writers of masque. Else, what word did they use for mask?