mask

Less common meanings

7. 7
   hide autismverbintransitive

   To conceal one's autism by performing learned behaviors and suppressing others in order to appear more neurotypical.

   After his autism diagnosis, he realized he had been masking at work for years.

   Autistic people often mask to fit in, hiding the strain it causes them.

   Similarcamouflage

   Note

   A term from writing on autism, and it most often appears as the noun masking: "Masking is exhausting," reads Sally Cat's collection PDA by PDAers (2018). The word carries a sense of cost, and writers stress the energy it drains. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

   • The wording "Masking is exhausting" appears in PDA by PDAers. en.wiktionary.org
8. 8
   frame cover (film)nouncountable

   A flat covering placed to block off an unwanted portion of a scene or image during production.

   The camera operator fitted a mask to crop the bright window out of the frame.

   The printer laid a paper mask over the plate to keep the border blank.

   Similarmatte

   Note

   Film and publishing use the word for a physical blocker: a flat cover set in the path of the image so that only the wanted part of the scene or page remains. The work happens at shooting, printing or projection, not in later editing. Its software counterpart is the transparency bitmap, which does the same job on screen. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

   • In film and publishing, a mask can be a flat physical covering that blocks unwanted image areas. en.wiktionary.org
   • Physical masking also occurs during theatrical projection, after shooting and printing. film-tech.com
   • A software transparency mask similarly controls which image areas remain visible. docs.gimp.org
9. 9
   transparency mapnouncountable

   An image, usually black and white or grayscale, used to control which parts of another image are visible, hidden, or partly transparent.

   She painted a mask so only the logo remained visible over the photo.

   Layer masks let editors hide parts of an image without erasing them.

   Similarmatte

   Note

   The image-sized cousin of the programmer's bit pattern: in its simplest, two-color form, every pixel is effectively a single bit, either visible or transparent, while grayscale masks allow degrees of transparency. Graphics editors keep it separate from the picture itself. That separation is why masking leaves the hidden pixels intact, while erasing directly changes the picture's pixels.

10. 10
    bit patternnouncountable

    A pattern of bits used in bitwise operations to select, set, or clear specific bits; a bitmask.

    The function applies a mask to extract the color channel from the pixel value.

    Network masks determine which portion of an address identifies the subnet.

    Similarbitmask

    Note

    In programming, a mask is a pattern of bits laid over a value to pick some bits out and leave the others alone. ANDing with a mask keeps every bit that meets a 1 and zeroes every bit that meets a 0. OR and XOR use masks to set bits or flip them. Bitmask is the full name, but programmers usually just say mask. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • A mask selects particular bits in a value. docs.arduino.cc
    • Bitwise AND preserves bits corresponding to mask bits of 1 and clears bits corresponding to mask bits of 0. learn.microsoft.com
    • OR can set selected bits, and XOR can flip selected bits. learn.microsoft.com
11. 11
    carved facenouncountable

    A grotesque carved head or face used to adorn keystones and other prominent features, or to spout water in a fountain.

    The architect set a grinning mask at the apex of each arch.

    Carved masks lined the cornice, their open mouths channeling rainwater away from the wall.

    Note

    A carved face rather than a worn one. In architectural description it names a grotesque head set at a keystone or another prominent point, and the same face may double as a fountain spout, with water issuing from its mouth. Mascaron is its technical synonym. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • The architectural ornament is a carved face. en.wiktionary.org
    • An architectural mask can adorn a keystone or another prominent feature. en.wiktionary.org
    • The ornament can serve as a fountain spout with water flowing from its mouth. de.wikipedia.org
    • Mascaron is an architectural synonym of mask. en.wiktionary.org
12. 12
    verbintransitive

    To take part in a masquerade, or to go about wearing a mask or other disguise.

    Nobles would mask at the Venetian carnival, mingling unrecognized among the crowds.

    In New Orleans, many families mask and parade together every Mardi Gras.

    Similarmasquerade

    Note

    The verb of the masked revel, and in older English it travels with dancing. George Cavendish's life of Thomas Wolsey (1641) has noble gentlemen who "daunced & masked" with the ladies. Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet looks back some twenty-five years to the last time "we mask'd." It means joining the festivity in disguise, not merely putting a mask on. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • George Cavendish wrote the life of Thomas Wolsey, first published in 1641. searcharchives.bl.uk
    • Cavendish describes noble gentlemen dancing and masking with ladies; the quoted spelling is attested. en.wiktionary.org
    • In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Capulet recalls masking approximately twenty-five years earlier. folger.edu
    • The historical examples associate masking with dancing and participation in disguised festivities. gutenberg.org
13. 13
    verbtransitive

    In computing, to set or clear specific bits in a value by applying a bitmask, as when disabling an interrupt.

    The routine masks the parity bit before comparing the two bytes.

    Developers mask the unused fields so they default to zero.

    Note

    The verb of the bit pattern, and it usually reports the result: bits are "masked to zero." Richard E. Haskell's textbook Introduction to Computer Engineering clears a whole nibble, four bits, in a single operation. The passive is common because the programmer's interest lies in the bits that were changed, not in the mask that changed them.

14. 14
    nounobsolete

    A dramatic entertainment in which the performers wore masks and portrayed mythical or allegorical figures.

    Note

    The staged performance, as opposed to the masked ball: masked players taking the parts of gods, virtues and allegorical figures. This spelling is obsolete for it. Modern writing on these court entertainments uses masque, and a reader who meets mask in an older text should take it as the same thing. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • The entertainment was a dramatic performance involving masked performers and mythological or allegorical characters. en.wikisource.org
    • Mask was another spelling of masque for this entertainment. en.wikisource.org
15. 15
    nounarchaic

    A person who is wearing a mask.

    the mask that has the arm of the Indian queen

    1880, George Washington Cable, The Grandissimes: A Story of Creole Life
16. 16
    nounarchaic

    A festive gathering of dancing and other amusements at which everyone wears a mask; a masquerade.

    This thought might lead me through the world's vain mask.

    1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost
17. 17
    verb

    To cover or hold an enemy force in check, keeping it from acting while other operations proceed.
18. 18
    noun

    A screen used to conceal a battery of guns from the enemy's view.
19. 19
    noun

    In a permanent fortification, a redoubt that protects the caponier crossing the ditch.
20. 20
    noun

    The lower lip of a dragonfly larva, modified into a hinged, prehensile organ used to seize prey.
21. 21
    noun

    The head of a fox shown face-on and cut off immediately behind the ears, as in heraldry or a hunting trophy.
22. 22
    noundialectal

    The mesh of a net or one of its openings; also, in some dialects, a net or a net bag.
23. 23
    noundialectalUK

    A mash; a mixture of ground malt or grain steeped in hot water, as in brewing.
24. 24
    verbdialectalUK

    To mash; to mix malt or grain with hot water, as in brewing.
25. 25
    verbdialectalUK

    To mash malt, soaking the crushed grain in hot water during brewing to draw out the sugary liquid called wort.
26. 26
    verbdialectalCumbriaDurhamGeordieNorthumbriaScotland

    Of tea or a similar drink, to soak in hot water until its flavor comes out.
27. 27
    verbdialectalCumbriaDurhamGeordieNorthumbriaScotlandUK

    To make tea by letting the leaves stand in hot water in a pot.
28. 28
    verbdialectalNorthern EnglandScotland

    Of the weather, to gather and build up before a storm breaks.

    The whislin' key hole o the door / Fou plainly tells a storm is maskin'.

    1900, J. Milne, Poems
29. 29
    verbdialectalUK

    To leave someone puzzled or muddled so that they cannot think clearly.