moue
nounUK, US /muː/
Etymology Borrowed from French moue, from Old French moe (“grimace”), from Frankish *mauwa (“pout, protruding lip”). Doublet of mow ("grimace").
1
A pout, especially as expressing mock-annoyance or flirtatiousness.
- [S]he looked at her face and made a moue in the glass; and never stopped for Laura’s answer to the questions which she had put.1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 23, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume I, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849, →OCLC, page 221:
- She glanced aside to the rim of the looking-glass where his photograph was wedged, shuddered, and made a moue of distaste.1913 October, Jack London, chapter VI, in The Valley of the Moon, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC:
2 more examples
- She made what I believe, though I wouldn't swear to it, is called a moue. Putting the lips together and shoving them out, if you know what I mean. The impression I got was that she was disappointed in Bertram, having expected better things […].1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter VIII, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:
- Why do you wear European clothes?" fumed Oscar de la Renta with a moue of disapproval and stamp of his bejewelled foot (probably).2011 February 2, Hadley Freeman, “Should Michelle Obama and Kate Middleton be patriotic about designers?”, in The Guardian: