grimace
noun
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L321470 on Wikidata ↗verb
- to smile painfully
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈɡɹɪm.əs/ / /ɡɹɪˈmeɪs/
noun
Etymology: From French grimace, from Middle French grimace, from Old French grimace, grimuche, from grime (“mask”) (with the pejorative suffix -ace, from Latin -āceus), from Frankish *grīma, *grīmō (“mask”), from Proto-Germanic *grīmô (“mask, helmet”). Cognate with Old English grīma (“mask, visor, helmet, spectre, apparition”). More at grime.
- A contorted facial expression, often expressing contempt or pain.
“Her face was twisted in a grimace of disgust.”
“I trundle off to bed, eyes brimming, face twisted into a grateful glistening grimace, and awaken the next day wondering what all the fuss was about.”
- Affectation, pretence.
“Zeluco considered all this as mere affectation and grimace, and was convinced that she would, in due time, unfold the particular mode in which she wished to be indemnified […].”
“Charlotte was equally insensible to all his fashionable grimace, and indifferent to his conversation.”
verb
Etymology: From French grimace, from Middle French grimace, from Old French grimace, grimuche, from grime (“mask”) (with the pejorative suffix -ace, from Latin -āceus), from Frankish *grīma, *grīmō (“mask”), from Proto-Germanic *grīmô (“mask, helmet”). Cognate with Old English grīma (“mask, visor, helmet, spectre, apparition”). More at grime.
- To make grimaces; to distort one's face; to make faces.