• (RP) IPA: /mɑːsk/
• (GA, British) IPA: /mæsk/

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
   • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost

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

4. A person wearing a mask.
   • 1880, George Washington Cable, The Grandissimes: A Story of Creole Life

     the mask that has the arm of the Indian queen

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

   Synonyms: 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 mask. (The term is objected to 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. (heraldiccharge) The head of a fox, shown face-on and cut off immediately behind the ears.

• vizard (archaic)

• French: masque
• German: Maske, Verhüllung
• Italian: maschera, mascherina
• Portuguese: máscara
• Russian: ма́ска
• Spanish: máscara, mascarilla

• German: Maske
• Italian: maschera
• Portuguese: máscara
• Russian: ма́ска

• Portuguese: mascarada
• Russian: ма́ска

• Portuguese: mascarada
• Spanish: mascarada

• Spanish: máscara

• Portuguese: máscara
• Spanish: capa

mask (masks, present participle masking; 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.
   • c. 1597, William Shakespeare, “The Merry VViues of VVindsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act IV, scene vi]:

     They must all be masked and vizarded

2. (transitive) To disguise; to cover; to hide.
   • c. 1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act III, scene 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
6. (intransitive) To wear a mask; to be disguised in any way
7. (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
8. (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 […]

9. (transitive, computing) To disable (an interrupt, etc.) by setting or unsetting the associated bit.

• German: maskieren
• Spanish: enmascarar

• German: maskieren
• Italian: mascherare
• Spanish: cubrir

• German: maskieren

mask (plural masks)

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

mask (plural masks)

1. (UK dialectal) Mash.

mask (masks, present participle masking; 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.

mask (masks, present participle masking; past and past participle masked)

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