mask

Meaning

Noun

1. A cover, or partial cover, for the face, used for disguise or protection.
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. 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 head of a fox, shown face-on and cut off immediately behind the ears.

Verb

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) To conceal; also, to intervene in the line of.
5. (transitive) 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; to learn, practice, and perform certain behaviors and suppress others in order to appear more neurotypical.
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) To set or unset (certain bits, or binary digits, within a value) by means of a bitmask.
12. (transitive) To disable (an interrupt, etc.) by setting or unsetting the associated bit.

Verb

1. (UK, dialectal, transitive) To mash.
2. (UK, dialectal, transitive) (brewing) To mix malt with hot water to yield wort.
3. (Cumbria, Durham, Geordie, Northumbria, Scotland, dialectal, transitive) To be infused or steeped.
4. (Cumbria, Durham, Geordie, Northumbria, Scotland, UK, dialectal) To prepare tea in a teapot; alternative to brew.
5. (Northern-England, Scotland, rare) To prepare (to storm).

Verb

To bewilder; confuse.

Synonyms

disguise

cover

veil

masque

cloak

camouflage

conceal

masquerade

screen

guise

hide

shroud

visor

block out

face mask

drape

bathe

masking

masquerade party

dissemble

false face

mantle

wear a mask

obscure

mug

shield

🛡️

face guard

face-piece

extractor

envelop

enshroud

cloud over

canopy

engulf

encrypt

encase

masked ball

dress up

clothe

blanket

inscribe

inhibit

incase

dissimulate

cipher

image

hush up

head

case

grow over

Translations

masque

😷

Maske

😷

máscara

😷

maschera

😷

máscara

😷

maskieren

😷

enmascarar

😷

masquer

😷

mascherare

😷

masker

😷

màscara

😷

careta

maskeren

😷

μάσκα

Pronounced as (IPA)

/mɑːsk/

Etymology

Cognate with English: mesh

Cognate with Hebrew: מַסֵּכָה

Inherited from Middle English: maske

Inherited from Old English: max

Inherited from Middle English: *mask

Inherited from Old English: māx

Inherited from Middle English: masken

In summary

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).