mask

A man wearing a mask

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /mɑːsk/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /mæsk/

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• Rhymes: -æsk, -ɑːsk
• Homophones: masque, masc (some accents)

Borrowed from Middle French masque (“a covering to hide or protect the face”), from Italian maschera (“mask, disguise”), from Medieval Latin masca, mascha, mascus (“mask, nightmare, ghost”), of uncertain origin. Replaced Old English grīma (“mask”).

Medieval Latin masca, mascha, mascus may represent the merger of two or more words: 1). a Germanic word from Frankish *maska, *maskra (“mask, mesh”) (compare Old English mæscre (“mesh; discoloration, spot”), masc (“net, mesh netting”); Old High German māsca (“mesh, ties”)), from Proto-Germanic *maskwǭ (“mesh, mask”), from Proto-Indo-European *mezgʷ- (“to knit, twist”), from the practice of wearing mesh netting over the face as a mask to filter air, keeping soot and dust particles from entering the lungs (compare surgical mask, gas mask, etc.); 2). Old French mascurer ("to blacken (the face)"; compare Occitan mascarar, Catalan mascarar, Walloon maxhurer), from a stem *maska, *mask- (“black”) believed to be of Pre-Indo-European origin giving rise to words meaning "witch, wizard, sorcerer" (compare Old Occitan masco (“witch”), Occitan masca (“witch”), French masque (“brothel-keeper, witch”)); and perhaps another 3). from Arabic مَسْخَرَة‎ (masḵara, “buffoon, fool, pleasantry, anything ridiculous”), from سَخِرَ‎ (saḵira, “to ridicule, to laugh at”).

• Derived from the -r- form: Italian maschera, Spanish and Portuguese máscara, Dutch masker, English masquerade.
• Derived from the form lacking -r-: German Maske and Swedish mask.[1]

• masque (archaic, noun, verb)

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

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Francis Bacon to this entry?)

   • (Can we date this quote?) John Milton:

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

4. A person wearing a mask.
   • (Can we date this quote?) G. W. Cable

     the mask that has the arm of the Indian queen

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling

     Jones, now taking the mask by the hand, fell to entreating her in the most earnest manner, to acquaint him where he might find Sophia; and when he could obtain no direct answer, he began to upbraid her gently […]

5. (obsolete) A dramatic performance, formerly in vogue, in which the actors wore masks and represented mythical or allegorical characters.
6. (architecture) A grotesque head or face, used to adorn keystones and other prominent parts, to spout water in fountains, and the like; -- called also mascaron.
7. (fortification) In a permanent fortification, a redoubt which protects the caponiere.
8. (fortification) A screen for a battery
9. (zoology) The lower lip of the larva of a dragonfly, modified so as to form a prehensile organ.
10. (Puebloan, anthropology) A ceremonial object used in Puebloan kachina cults that resembles a Euro-American masks. (The term is objected as an appropriate translation by Puebloan peoples as it emphasizes imitation but ignores power and representational intent.)
11. (computing, programming) A pattern of bits used in bitwise operations; bitmask.
12. (computer graphics) A two-color (black and white) bitmap generated from an image, used to create transparency in the image.
13. (heraldry) The head of a fox, shown face-on and cut off immediately behind the ears.

• vizard (archaic)

• (a cover for the face): domino mask, sleep mask

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

1. (transitive) To cover, as the face, by way of concealment or defense against injury; to conceal with a mask or visor.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Shakespeare, Merry Wives of Windsor, IV,vi:

     They must all be masked and vizarded

2. (transitive) To disguise; to cover; to hide.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Shakespeare, Macbeth, III-i:

     Masking the business from the common eye

3. (transitive, military) To conceal; also, to intervene in the line of.
4. (transitive, military) To cover or keep in check.

   to mask a body of troops or a fortess by a superior force, while some hostile evolution is being carried out

5. (intransitive) To take part as a masker in a masquerade

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Cavendish to this entry?)

6. (intransitive) To wear a mask; to be disguised in any way

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)

7. (transitive, computing) To set or unset (certain bits, or binary digits, within a value) by means of a bitmask.
   • 1993, Richard E. Haskell, Introduction to computer engineering (page 287)

     That is, the lower nibble (the 4 bits 1010 = A) has been masked to zero. This is because ANDing anything with a zero produces a zero, while ANDing any bit with a 1 leaves the bit unchanged […]

8. (transitive, computing) To disable (an interrupt, etc.) by unsetting the associated bit.
   • 1998, Rick Grehan, ‎Robert Moote, ‎Ingo Cyliax, Real-time programming: a guide to 32-bit embedded development

     When should you mask a specific interrupt, rather than disabling all interrupts?

From Middle English maske, from Old English max, *masc (“net”), from Proto-Germanic *maskwǭ (“mesh, netting, mask”), from Proto-Indo-European *mozgʷ-, *mezgʷ- (“to knit, tie”). Cognate with Dutch maas (“mesh”), German Masche (“mesh”), Icelandic möskvi (“mesh”).

mask (plural masks)

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

From Middle English *mask, masch, from Old English māx, māsc (“mash”). More at mash.

mask (plural masks)

1. (Britain dialectal) Mash.

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

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

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

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

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

• KAMs, maks

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

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mask c

1. worm

• daggmask

Borrowed from French masque, from Latin masca. Details: see above, English mask.

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mask c

1. mask; a cover designed to disguise or protect the face

• maskera
• maskerad
• maskering