mask
verbEtymology 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 and mask (“mesh”) (below at Etymology 2) are inherited. Doublet of mascara, masque, and mesh. Replaced Old English grīma (“mask”), whence grime, and displaced non-native Middle English viser (“visor, mask”) borrowed from Old French viser, visier.
12 senses
- 1To cover (the face or something else), in order to…
- 2To disguise as something else.
- 3To conceal from view or knowledge; to cover; to hide.
- 4To conceal; also, to intervene in the line of.
- 5To cover or keep in check.
- 6To take part as a masker in a masquerade.
- 7To put on a mask; to wear a mask.
- 8To disguise oneself, to be disguised in any way.
- 9To conceal or disguise one's neurodivergence, especially…
- 10To cover or shield something, or a portion of something…
- 11To set or unset (certain bits, or binary digits, within…
- 12To disable (an interrupt, etc.) by setting or unsetting…
To cover (the face or something else), in order to conceal the identity or protect against injury; to cover with a mask or visor.
- They must all be masked and vizardedc. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene vi]:
To disguise as something else.
To conceal from view or knowledge; to cover; to hide.
- Masking the business from the common eyec. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
- The opponent must not be able to recognize when we inhale and when we exhale. We achieve this by breathing with the diaphragm and we do not raise the shoulders while breathing. In particular we must mask when we are out of breath.1998, Rudolf Jakhel, Modern Sports Karate: Basics of Techniques and Tactics, Meyer & Meyer Sport, →ISBN:
1 more example
- Many autistic people have language and cognitive skills; [and] they mask their autism, cover up social discomfort, and work hard to be someone they are not, so people often see them as “fitting in” just fine.2020, Lisa Morgan, Mary Donahue, Living with PTSD on the Autism Spectrum: Insightful Analysis with Practical Applications, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, →ISBN, page 118:
Government, Military, Politics, War To conceal; also, to intervene in the line of.
Government, Military, Politics, War 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
To take part as a masker in a masquerade.
- Come Pentecost as quickly as it will, Some five and twenty years, and then we mask’d.c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene v]:
- noble Gentilmen / who daunced & masked wt thes fayer ladyes & gentillwomen1641, George Cavendish, Thomas Wolsey, Late Cardinall, his Lyffe and Deathe:
To put on a mask; to wear a mask.
- Dr. Shelita Dattani, director of professional affairs at the Canadian Pharmacists Association, says […]. “The efforts that we’re taking to reduce the spread of COVID are working … people are masking and distancing and staying away from each other and using hand hygiene, so I think all of these efforts combined are contributing to lower rates.”2020 December 30, Jaren Kerr, “Flu almost non-existent this year as coronavirus cases rise across Canada”, in The Globe and Mail:
Obsolete To disguise oneself, to be disguised in any way.
- Ioue sometime maſked in a ſhepheards weede, And by thoſe ſteps that he hath ſcal’d the heauens, May we become immortall like the Gods.c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii:
To conceal or disguise one's neurodivergence, especially autism; to learn, practice, and perform certain behaviors and suppress others in order to appear more neurotypical.
- Masking is exhausting and some autistics require copious amounts of time afterwards to recover from hiding who they are and pretending to be someone they aren't. Even when autistics mask they don't always pass fully as an NT person.2018, Sally Cat, PDA by PDAers: From Anxiety to Avoidance and Masking to Meltdowns, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, →ISBN, page 86:
- Masking can leave a person with less energy to handle other aspects of their day, from performing basic housework to processing thoughts and feelings.2020, Sarah Kurchak, I Overcame My Autism and All I Got Was This Lousy Anxiety Disorder, unnumbered page:
3 more examples
- So, masking seems to be a very poor explanation for the difference in gender diagnosis of autism. In particular, masking requires theory of mind. How can autistic people successfully mask if they struggle with this ability?2021, Yenn Purkis, Wenn B. Lawson, The Autistic Trans Guide to Life, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, →ISBN, page 132:
- Some group members describe masking during therapy in order to seem more likeable to the therapist, or because they felt it necessary in order to be seen as engaging with the support.2021, Felicity Sedgewick, Laura Hull, Helen Ellis, Autism and Masking: How and Why People Do It, and the Impact It Can Have, page 220:
- Kayleigh, who was finally diagnosed at 18, felt that she masked a lot growing up because she "always felt different and was bullied if [she] showed it both at home and in school".2022, Hannah Louise Belcher, Taking Off the Mask: Practical Exercises to Help Understand and Minimise the Effects of Autistic Camouflaging, page 80:
To cover or shield something, or a portion of something, so as to prevent reproduction or to safeguard the surface from the colors used when working with an air brush or painting.
Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences To set or unset (certain bits, or binary digits, within a value) by means of a bitmask.
- 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[…]1993, Richard E. Haskell, Introduction to computer engineering, page 287:
Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences To disable (an interrupt, etc.) by setting or unsetting the associated bit.
- Some hardware interrupts can be masked, or disabled; that is, the CPU is told to ignore them.1998, Rick Grehan, Robert Moote, Ingo Cyliax, Real-Time Programming: A Guide to 32-bit Embedded Development, page 199:
- Related terms
- mascara, masking tape, masquerade