English Online Dictionary. What means mask? What does mask mean?
English
Alternative forms
masque (obsolete)
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /mɑːsk/
- (Northern England, Scotland) IPA(key): /mask/
- (General American) 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)
- 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
- That which disguises; a pretext or subterfuge.
- (poetic) Appearance, likeness.
- A festive entertainment of dancing or other diversions, where all wear masks; a masquerade.
- A person wearing a mask.
- (obsolete) A dramatic performance in which the actors wore masks and represented mythical or allegorical characters.
- (architecture) A grotesque head or face, used to adorn keystones and other prominent parts, to spout water in fountains, and the like.
- Synonym: mascaron
- (fortification) In a permanent fortification, a redoubt which protects the caponiere.
- (fortification) A screen for a battery.
- (zoology) The lower lip of the larva of a dragonfly, modified so as to form a prehensile organ.
- (publishing, film) A flat covering used to block off an unwanted portion of a scene or image.
- (computing, programming) A pattern of bits used in bitwise operations; bitmask.
- (computer graphics) A two-color (black and white) bitmap generated from an image, used to create transparency in the image.
- (heraldry) The head of a fox, shown face-on and cut off immediately behind the ears.
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)
- (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.
- (transitive) To disguise as something else.
- (transitive) To conceal from view or knowledge; to cover; to hide.
- (transitive, military) To conceal; also, to intervene in the line of.
- (transitive, military) To cover or keep in check.
- (intransitive) To take part as a masker in a masquerade.
- (intransitive) To wear a mask.
- (intransitive, obsolete) To disguise oneself, to be disguised in any way.
- (intransitive) To conceal or disguise one's autism.
- (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
- (transitive, computing) To set or unset (certain bits, or binary digits, within a value) by means of a bitmask.
- (transitive, computing) To disable (an interrupt, etc.) by setting or unsetting the associated bit.
- (psychology, of an autistic person) To learn, practice, and perform certain behaviors and suppress others in order to appear more neurotypical.
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)
- mesh
- (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)
- (UK dialectal) Mash.
Verb
mask (third-person singular simple present masks, present participle masking, simple past and past participle masked)
- (transitive, UK dialectal) To mash.
- (transitive, UK dialectal) (brewing) To mix malt with hot water to yield wort.
- (transitive, Scotland dialectal) To be infused or steeped.
- (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)
- (transitive, UK dialectal) To bewilder; confuse.
References
Anagrams
- KAMs, ma'ks, maks
Chinese
Etymology
From English mask.
Pronunciation
Noun
mask
- (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)
- mask
Declension
Compounds
Further reading
- “mask”, in [EKSS] Eesti keele seletav sõnaraamat [Descriptive Dictionary of the Estonian Language] (in Estonian) (online version), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2009
- “mask”, in [ÕS] Eesti õigekeelsussõnaraamat ÕS 2018 [Estonian Spelling Dictionary] (in Estonian) (online version), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2018, →ISBN
- 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
- a worm
Usage notes
Sometimes collectively, like in the examples above.
Declension
Derived terms
- daggmask
- lysmask
Etymology 2
Borrowed from French masque.
Pronunciation
Noun
mask c
- a mask (cover designed to disguise or protect the face)
Declension
Derived terms
- maskera
- maskerad
- maskering
References
- mask in Svensk ordbok (SO)
- mask in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
- mask in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)
- Svensk MeSH
Anagrams
- kams, skam, smak