[a. F. façade, f. face, after It. facciata, f. faccia FACE sb.]

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  1.  The face or front of a building towards a street or other open place, esp. the principal front.

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1656–81.  in Blount, Glossogr.

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1717.  Berkeley, Tour in Italy, Wks., 1871, IV. 534. We observed the façades of many noble buildings, particularly that of Monte Citorio, where the courts of justice are kept.

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1756–7.  trans. Keysler’s Trav. (1760), II. 397. The inner façade was repaired by Bernini.

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1839.  J. L. Stephens, Trav. Greece, etc., 88/1. The façade of the palace is unequalled.

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1872.  Browning, Fifine, xx. Shadow sucked the whole Façade into itself.

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  b.  transf. and fig.

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1845.  Darwin, Voy. Nat., xviii. (1852), 407. Beneath a façade of columnar lava, we ate our dinner.

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1875.  E. White, Life in Christ, III. xviii. (1878), 230. The recovery of the truth respecting Christ, as the only source of immortal life to mankind, will bring out into fresh beauty the whole façade of the Evangelical theology.

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  ǁ 2.  (See quot.)

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1796.  Morse, Amer. Geog., I. 754. Their estates [in Demarara] are regularly laid out in lots along the sea shore, called facades.

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