mask

mask

synonyms, antonyms, definitions, examples & translations of mask in English

English Online Dictionary. What means mask‎? What does mask mean?

English

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /mɑːsk/
  • (General American, UK) IPA(key): /mæsk/
  • Homophones: Marske, masque, masc (some accents)
  • Rhymes: -æsk, -ɑːsk

Etymology 1

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).

Alternative forms

  • masque (archaic, noun, verb)

Noun

mask (plural masks)

  1. 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
  2. That which disguises; a pretext or subterfuge.
  3. (poetic) Appearance, likeness.
  4. A festive entertainment of dancing or other diversions, where all wear masks; a masquerade.
  5. A person wearing a mask.
  6. (obsolete) A dramatic performance in which the actors wore masks and represented mythical or allegorical characters.
  7. (architecture) A grotesque head or face, used to adorn keystones and other prominent parts, to spout water in fountains, and the like.
    Synonym: mascaron
  8. (fortification) In a permanent fortification, a redoubt which protects the caponiere.
  9. (fortification) A screen for a battery.
  10. (zoology) The lower lip of the larva of a dragonfly, modified so as to form a prehensile organ.
  11. (publishing, film) A flat covering used to block off an unwanted portion of a scene or image.
  12. (computing, programming) A pattern of bits used in bitwise operations; bitmask.
  13. (computer graphics) A two-color (black and white) bitmap generated from an image, used to create transparency in the image.
  14. (heraldry) The head of a fox, shown face-on and cut off immediately behind the ears.
  15. (psychology) A social phenomenon where autistic people learn, practice, and perform certain behaviors and suppress others in order to appear more neurotypical.
Synonyms
  • vizard (archaic)
Hyponyms
  • (a cover for the face): domino mask, sleep mask
Derived terms
Translations

Verb

mask (third-person singular simple present masks, present participle masking, simple past and past participle masked)

  1. (transitive) 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. (transitive) To disguise as something else.
  3. (transitive) To conceal from view or knowledge; to cover; to hide.
  4. (transitive, military) To conceal; also, to intervene in the line of.
  5. (transitive, military) To cover or keep in check.
  6. (intransitive) To take part as a masker in a masquerade.
  7. (intransitive) To wear a mask.
  8. (intransitive, obsolete) To disguise oneself, to be disguised in any way.
  9. (intransitive) To conceal or disguise one's autism.
  10. (transitive) to cover or shield a part of a design or picture in order to prevent reproduction or to safeguard the surface from the colors used when working with an air brush or painting
  11. (transitive, computing) To set or unset (certain bits, or binary digits, within a value) by means of a bitmask.
  12. (transitive, computing) To disable (an interrupt, etc.) by setting or unsetting the associated bit.
Derived terms
  • maskable
  • masked
  • mask up
  • unmask
Related terms
  • mascara
Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English maske, from Old English max, masċ (net), from Proto-West Germanic *maskā (mesh, netting, mask). Doublet of mesh and mask above.

Noun

mask (plural masks)

  1. mesh
  2. (UK dialectal, Scotland) The mesh of a net; a net; net-bag.

Etymology 3

From Middle English *mask, masch, from Old English māx, māsc (mash). Doublet of mash.

Noun

mask (plural masks)

  1. (UK dialectal) Mash.

Verb

mask (third-person singular simple present masks, present participle masking, simple past and past participle masked)

  1. (transitive, UK dialectal) To mash.
  2. (transitive, UK dialectal) (brewing) To mix malt with hot water to yield wort.
  3. (transitive, Scotland dialectal) To be infused or steeped.
  4. (UK dialectal, Scotland) To prepare tea in a teapot; alternative to brew.

Etymology 4

From Middle English masken, short for *maskeren, malskren (to bewilder; be confused, wander). More at masker.

Verb

mask (third-person singular simple present masks, present participle masking, simple past and past participle masked)

  1. (transitive, UK dialectal) To bewilder; confuse.

References


Anagrams

  • KAMs, ma'ks, maks

Chinese

Etymology

From English mask.

Pronunciation

Noun

mask

  1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) facial mask

Synonyms

  • 面膜 (min6 mok6-2)

References

  • English Loanwords in Hong Kong Cantonese

Estonian

Etymology

Borrowed from French masque

Pronunciation

Noun

mask (genitive maski, partitive maski)

  1. mask

Declension

Compounds

Further reading

  • mask”, in [EKSS] Eesti keele seletav sõnaraamat [Descriptive Dictionary of the Estonian Language] (online version, in Estonian), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2009
  • mask”, in [ÕS] Eesti õigekeelsussõnaraamat ÕS 2018 [Estonian Spelling Dictionary] (online version, in Estonian), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2018
  • mask in Sõnaveeb (Eesti Keele Instituut)

Swedish

Etymology 1

From Old Swedish maþker, from Old Norse maðkr. Cognate with English mawk, Danish maddike and Finnish matikka.

Pronunciation

Noun

mask c

  1. worm
Declension
Derived terms
  • daggmask
  • lysmask

Etymology 2

Borrowed from French masque.

Pronunciation

Noun

mask c

  1. mask; a cover designed to disguise or protect the face
Declension
Derived terms
  • maskera
  • maskerad
  • maskering

Anagrams

  • kams, skam, smak

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This article based on an article on Wiktionary. The list of authors can be seen in the page history there. The original work has been modified. This article is distributed under the terms of this license.