MASK

A cover, or partial cover, for the face, used for disguise or protection; as, a dancer's mask; a fencer's mask; a ball player's mask.

That which disguises; a pretext or subterfuge.

A festive entertainment of dancing or other diversions, where all wear masks; a masquerade; hence, a revel; a frolic; a delusive show. Bacon. This thought might lead me through the world's vain mask. Milton.

A dramatic performance, formerly in vogue, in which the actors wore masks and represented mythical or allegorical characters.

A grotesque head or face, used to adorn keystones and other prominent parts, to spout water in fountains, and the like; -- called also mascaron.

In a permanent fortification, a redoubt which protects the caponiere.

A screen for a battery.

The lower lip of the larva of a dragon fly, modified so as to form a prehensile organ. Mask house, a house for masquerades. [Obs.]

To cover, as the face, by way of concealment or defense against injury; to conceal with a mask or visor. They must all be masked and vizarded. Shak.

To disguise; to cover; to hide. Masking the business from the common eye. Shak.

To conceal; also, to intervene in the line of.

To cover or keep in check; as, to mask a body of troops or a fortess by a superior force, while some hostile evolution is being carried out.

To take part as a masker in a masquerade. Cavendish.

To wear a mask; to be disguised in any way. Shak.