Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The face or facial expression of a person; countenance.
  • noun Appearance; aspect.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To face; confront; brave.
  • To put a (certain) face upon; make (a thing) appear in a (certain) fashion.
  • noun The face, countenance, or look of a person or an animal: chiefly applied to human beings; hence, in general, appearance; aspect.
  • noun Synonyms Countenance, etc. See face.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The face, countenance, or look of a person or an animal; -- chiefly applied to the human face.
  • transitive verb obsolete To face.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Countenance; appearance; one's face.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the appearance conveyed by a person's face
  • noun the human face (`kisser' and `smiler' and `mug' are informal terms for `face' and `phiz' is British)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French, from vis, from Latin vīsus, appearance, from past participle of vidēre, to see; see weid- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English, from Old French vis, from Medieval Latin as if *visaticum, from Latin visus ("a look, vision"), from videre ("to see"), past participle visus; see vision, and compare vis.

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Examples

  • When reading the first five-issue story arc, from the covers drawn by the Sharp Brothers to Molnar's closing image of Zeus within the pages of the first issue, it becomes quickly apparent that Zeus 'physical visage is based on Chiklis' own image.

    Michael Chiklis goes from tough cop to top god 2010

  • These days, maintenance of the Golden Temple's exquisite visage is entrusted to one single man: 67-year-old Takesato Yagyu.

    Archive 2008-03-01 2008

  • These days, maintenance of the Golden Temple's exquisite visage is entrusted to one single man: 67-year-old Takesato Yagyu.

    Zen and the Art of Golden Temple Maintenance 2008

  • Alas though my visage is seen, my name is absent from the article, as I am referred to as the anonymous "Mr. Drinkwater's second".

    Archive 2007-06-01 ZenMondo Wormser 2007

  • Alas though my visage is seen, my name is absent from the article, as I am referred to as the anonymous "Mr. Drinkwater's second".

    My first press clippings ZenMondo Wormser 2007

  • I'm not exactly Stephen King -- people don't know my name, my frightening visage is not seen in the front row of Yankees/Red Sox games, and oh yeah, millions of people don't buy my books based on the byline alone -- but I get asked the above question relatively often.

    June 2006 2006

  • I'm not exactly Stephen King -- people don't know my name, my frightening visage is not seen in the front row of Yankees/Red Sox games, and oh yeah, millions of people don't buy my books based on the byline alone -- but I get asked the above question relatively often.

    Back Off, Pal. I'm An Author. 2006

  • To the people of the Western Hemisphere and Western Europe -- and to at least some in Asia -- the Communist visage is again what it was in 1952.

    The Significant Four Years Ahead 1956

  • Lord, despised of man, abhorred of the nation, but before whom kings on seeing Him are to arise, and princes to worship; in visage more marred than any man and His form than the sons of men, yet sprinkling many nations; laboring seemingly in vain, and spending His strength for naught and in vain, yet Jehovah's Servant to raise up the tribes of

    Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible 1871

  • The speaker was a tall, shambling, loose-jointed man, with a long, thin visage, prominent watery blue eyes, very fluttering and seedy habiliments, who occupied the responsible position of first do-nothing-in-ordinary in our village of Oldtown, and as such I must introduce him to my readers 'notice.

    Oldtown Folks 1869

Comments

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  • I like how severe this word sounds when said out loud.

    March 14, 2008

  • re the definition - has anyone actually heard the word phiz used since Dickens? (short for physiognomy)

    June 18, 2008

  • This makes me think of Ozymandias.

    June 18, 2008

  • Wasn't there a new romantic outfit of this name?

    June 18, 2008

  • WeirdNet.

    October 13, 2008