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Webster 1913 Edition


Grimace

Gri-mace′

(grĭm′ĭs or grĭ-mās′)
,
Noun.
[F., prob. of Teutonic origin; cf. AS.
grīma
mask, specter, Icel.
grīma
mask, hood, perh. akin to E.
grin
.]
A distortion of the countenance, whether habitual, from affectation, or momentary and occasional, to express some feeling, as contempt, disapprobation, complacency, etc.; a smirk; a made-up face.
Moving his face into such a hideous grimace, that every feature of it appeared under a different distortion.
Addison.
☞ “Half the French words used affectedly by Melantha in Dryden’s ‘Marriage a-la-Mode,’ as innovations in our language, are now in common use: chagrin, double-entendre, éclaircissement, embarras, équivoque, foible, grimace, naïvete, ridicule. All these words, which she learns by heart to use occasionally, are now in common use.”
I. Disraeli.

Gri-mace′

,
Verb.
I.
To make grimaces; to distort one's face; to make faces.
H. Martineau.

Webster 1828 Edition


Grimace

GRIMA'CE

, n.
1.
A distortion of the countenance, from habit, affectation or insolence.
2.
An air of affection.

Definition 2024


grimace

grimace

See also: grimacé

English

Noun

grimace (plural grimaces)

  1. A contorted facial expression, often expressing contempt or pain.
    • 2005 March, Opera News:
      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.

Translations

Verb

grimace (third-person singular simple present grimaces, present participle grimacing, simple past and past participle grimaced)

  1. To make grimaces; to distort one's face; to make faces.

Translations

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 grimace” (US) / “grimace” (UK) in Oxford Dictionaries, Oxford University Press.
  2. 1 2 grimace” in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Merriam-Webster Online.
  3. For example, Scottish poet Robert Fergusson (1750–1774), in a poem, rhymes "na: rather gleefu' turn your face, / forsake hypocrisy, grimace". John Mitchell, in a work published in 1838, rhymes "without a hindrance or grimace, / a ready grave in every face".
  4. For example, The Orthoëpist: A Pronouncing Manual (1880) by Alfred Ayres.

French

Etymology

From Middle French grimace, from Old French grimace, grimuche (a contorted or wry face, grotesque countenance), from grime (mask) (with the pejorative suffix -ace, from Latin -āceus), from Old Frankish *grīma, *grīmo (mask), from Proto-Germanic *grīmô (mask, helmet, cover, night), from Proto-Indo-European *ghrēi- (to strip, paint, smear). Cognate with Middle Dutch grime (mask), Old Saxon grīma (mask), Old English grīma (mask), Old Norse gríma (mask, helmet, night). More at grime.

Noun

grimace f (plural grimaces)

  1. grimace

Derived terms

Verb

grimace

  1. first-person singular present indicative of grimacer
  2. third-person singular present indicative of grimacer
  3. first-person singular present subjunctive of grimacer
  4. third-person singular present subjunctive of grimacer
  5. second-person singular imperative of grimacer