Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A dramatic entertainment, usually performed by masked players representing mythological or allegorical figures, that was popular in England in the 1500s and early 1600s.
- noun A dramatic verse composition written for such an entertainment.
from The Century Dictionary.
- See
mask .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A mask; a masquerade.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun archaic (in 16th-17th Century England & Europe) A dramatic performance, often performed at court as a royal entertainment, consisting of dancing, dialogue, pantomime and song.
- noun archaic Words and music written for a masque.
- noun archaic A shortening of the word
masquerade . - noun Archaic form of
mask . - verb Archaic form of
mask .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a party of guests wearing costumes and masks
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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In form it is a masque, that is, a dramatic poem intended to be staged to the accompaniment of music; in execution it is the most perfect of all such poems inspired by the
Outlines of English and American Literature : an Introduction to the Chief Writers of England and America, to the Books They Wrote, and to the Times in Which They Lived William Joseph Long 1909
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'It was I that called the masque at my house where first the King did see her.
The Fifth Queen Crowned Ford Madox Ford 1906
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The history of the masque is a stale matter, so I will merely mention that Campion, and many another with, before, and after him, engaged during a great part of their lives in what can only be called the manufacture of these entertainments.
Old Scores and New Readings Discussions on Music & Certain Musicians John F. Runciman 1891
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England (unless _Comus_ be called a masque), and which are worth comparing with the ballets and spectacle pieces of Molière.
A History of Elizabethan Literature George Saintsbury 1889
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The masque is a combo of a fancy mud and "deeply nourishing" body cream.
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The masque is a combo of a fancy mud and "deeply nourishing" body cream.
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The masque is a combo of a fancy mud and "deeply nourishing" body cream.
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The masque is a combo of a fancy mud and "deeply nourishing" body cream.
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Hmm, I don't think Prada Beauty makes a seaweed and cucumber "masque"...
"We, in former times, constantly made jokes about different races." Ann Althouse 2009
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As a ballad and a subversive "masque," however, it is a scandal to literary form and decorum in its analysis of oppression and its attribution of Promethean virtue to the hungry, the homeless, and the despised.
hernesheir commented on the word masque
A spectacular indoor performance combining poetic drama, music, dance, song, lavish costume and costly stage effects favored by European royalty in the 16th and early 17th centuries. Disguised members of the court played the roles of mythological characters and enacted simple allegorical plots. At the end of the performance, the cast would remove their masks and dance with members of the audience.
See anti-masque.
September 18, 2009
chained_bear commented on the word masque
Edgar Allan Poe's story "The Masque of the Red Death" was one of my favorites in school.
September 18, 2009
hernesheir commented on the word masque
When Britain first, at heavens's command,
Arose from out the azure main,
This was the charter of the land,
And guardian angels sung this strain:
"Rule, Britannia, rule the waves;
Britons never will be slaves."
from Alfred: A Masque by James Thomson (1700-1748)
September 25, 2009