Skip to content

masque

noun

  1. courtly entertainment with music and dance
L323681 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /mæsk/ / /mɑːsk/ / /mask/

noun

Etymology: Unadapted borrowing from French masque. Doublet of mask and mesh.

  1. A dramatic performance, often performed at court as a royal entertainment, consisting of dancing, dialogue, pantomime and song.

    "I think," said Anne to Madame de Mercœur, "we must obtain your protégée's services for our intended masque; however, I shall leave that to you young people to settle," turning to Louis as she spoke.

  2. Words and music written for a masque.

    Over six sections – a prologue, a life-story, a dream-quest, a dirge, a masque and an epilogue – they meditate on their lives, their hopes, their losses, and on the human condition.

  3. A masquerade.

    The game of pretence is enhanced by dressing-up, and it is natural for a child to copy some grown-up hero. The game was also played by all those people who have attended masques and fancy-dress parties and by Marie-Antoinette when she played at being a milkmaid, it is only the fashion which had altered.

  4. Obsolete spelling of mask.
  5. A facial mask.

    mud masque; clay masque

verb

Etymology: Unadapted borrowing from French masque. Doublet of mask and mesh.

  1. Archaic spelling of mask.

    It is even masqued by that sort of good-humoured air that at heart he resents his impressment.