rictus
noun/ˈɹɪk.təs/ · /ˈɹɪk.tʊs/
Etymology Learned borrowing from Latin rictus.
1
A bird’s gaping mouth.
2
The throat of a calyx.
3
Any open-mouthed expression.
- His face was a rictus of sheer delight.
- Amid a thick, bristling beard, a nose like an owl's beak and a mouth whose corners were drawn by a wild-beast-like rictus were just discernible.1899, Victor Hugo, translated by Paul Maurice, The Memoirs of Victor Hugo:
4 more examples
- A rictus of cruel malignity lit up greyly their old bony faces.1916, James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man:
- Sword and shield, bone and steel / Rictus grin / Deaf forever to the battle's din1986, “Deaf Forever”, performed by Motörhead:
- Valves plugs pumps to erase/ rictus from my face.1990, “Nothingface”, performed by Voivod:
- The absolute incarnation of evil, Adolf Hitler, lies at your feet in a pool of his own blood. His wrinkled, crimson-splattered visage still strains, a jagged-toothed rictus trying to cry out. Insane even in death. Your lips pinched in bitter victory, you kick his head off his remains and spit on his corpse.1993, Wolfenstein 3D, scene: after defeating Hitler (episode 3), level/area: 9:
- Derived terms
- rictal