masks

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of mask.

   Carved wooden masks lined the walls of the museum gallery.

   Workers in the paint shop swapped their masks every few hours.

   Note

   One spelling does two jobs: as a noun it counts the coverings, and the same letters serve as the verb's present-tense form, so context decides which you are reading. The plural reaches past face coverings to pretexts (behind their polite masks), to masked revelers, and to festive masquerades. An older theatrical meaning, plays whose actors wore masks to portray mythical or allegorical figures, has fallen out of use.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of mask.

   The heavy makeup masks every line on the actor's face.

   A loud air conditioner masks the traffic noise from the street.

   Note

   The verb nearly always takes a direct object: something masks a face, a flaw, a sound, a smell. Its range runs from literal covering to hiding something from view or knowledge, and on to holding something in check. Only the masquerade meaning stands without an object (he masks at the carnival), so if no object follows, that is the sense in play.

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