Face sb.

Also 4 faas, 4–5 fas(e, 5 faz. [a. Fr. face, corresp. to Pr. fassa, It. faccia:—popular Lat. facia, altered form of faciēs form, figure, appearance, hence face, visage, represented directly by Pr. fatz, Sp. faz, haz, Pg. face. The etymology of L. faciēs is uncertain: some scholars refer it to facĕre to make; others to the root fa- to appear, shine (cf. fac-em torch).

  The general sense ‘form, appearance,’ which in Latin was app. the source of the more specific use ‘visage, countenance,’ is in many of its Eng. applications apprehended as a transferred use of the latter, and has received a special coloring from this association. On this account the more restricted sense is here placed first.]

  I.  1. The front part of the head, from the forehead to the chin; the visage, countenance: a. in man. (In Anat. sometimes with narrowed sense, as excluding the forehead: see quot. 1831.)

c. 1290.  S. Eng. Leg., 169/2178. More blod þar nas in al is face.

1340.  Hampole, Pr. Consc., 772. Als a man waxes alde … his face rouncles ay mare and mare.

c. 1380.  Sir Ferumb., 2460. But vp þey sterte euerechon; & be-held him on þe fas.

c. 1400.  Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 141. The secunde chapitle of woundes of þe face.

1526.  Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 3. My face thou may not se.

1601.  Shaks., Jul. C., II. i. 75.

1667.  Milton, P. L., I. 600.

1707.  Floyer, Physic. Pulse-Watch, 374. If the Pulse be in extremis plenus in medio vacuus, it indicates pain at the Heart, and uneasiness from dryness and redness of the Face, if it appears in the second place; but in the first it indicates vomiting of Blood.

1759.  Sterne, Tr. Shandy, I. xxi. 152. The least hint of it was enough to make the blood fly into his face.

1762.  Walpole, Vertue’s Anecd. Paint. (1765), I. ii. 24. Such pyramids on their heads, that the face became the center of the body.

1831.  R. Knox, Cloquet’s Anat., 95. The Face, properly speaking … extends vertically from the upper edge of the nasal bones to the chin.

  b.  in lower animals.

1535.  Coverdale, Job xli. 14. Who openeth the dore of his face? for he hath horrible tethe rounde aboute.

1611.  Bible, Ezek. x. 14. And euery one had foure faces: the first face was the face of a Cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., IV. 531.

1741.  Chambers, Cycl., Face,… In other Animals, it is sometimes call’d Bill or Beak; sometimes Snout, &c.

1784.  Cowper, Task, V. 785.

1845.  S. Palmer, Pentaglot Dict., s.v. The face of birds comprehends the ophthalmic regions, cheeks, temples, forehead, and vertex;—of insects, all the parts situated between the labrum and prothorax.

  c.  transf. A representation of a human visage.

1488.  Ld. Treas. Accts. Scot. (1877), I. 85. Item, a ring with a face.

1588.  Shaks., Loves Labour’s Lost, V. ii. 649. Dum. He’s a God or a Painter, for he makes faces.

1613.  Webster, Duchess of Malfi, III. iii. That cardinal hath made more bad faces with his oppression than ever Michael Angelo made good ones.

1716.  Pope’s Wks., Basset-Table, 33.

1801.  Sporting Mag., XVIII. May, 100/1. No face but his own; a saying of one who has no money in his pocket, nor no court cards in his hand.

1832.  W. Irving, Alhambra, I. 111. Carved with fruits and flowers, intermingled with grotesque masks or faces.

1855.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., III. 503. Walker had arrived in London, and had been received there with boundless enthusiasm. His face was in every print-shop.

  d.  in popular names of plants, as Face and hood, Three († two) faces in, under a (one) hood, the heart’s-ease, pansy (Viola tricolor); Face-in-hood, the aconite (Aconitum Napellus).

1548.  Turner, Names of Herbes (E.D.S.), 87. Trinitatis herba … is called in english two faces in a hoode or panses.

1562.  Bulleyn, Bk. Simples, 39 a. Paunsis, or three faces in one hodde.

a. 1700.  B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Hearts-ease … an Herb called … Three Faces in a Hood … or Pansies.

1771.  R. Warner, Plantæ Woodford., 185. Heart’s-ease. Three Faces under a Hood.

1878–86.  Britten & Holland, Eng. Plant-n., Face and Hood (Viola tricolor). Ibid., Face-in-hood (Aconitum Napellus).

  2.  Phrases. a. † From face to foot = ‘from head to foot.’ † To know no faces: to have no respect of persons. To have two faces: to be guilty of duplicity; (of speech) to be ambiguous. In same sense, † To bear or carry two faces under one hood.

c. 1475.  Political Poems, in Archaeologia, XXIX. 341.

1562.  J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 138.

1580.  T. North, Plutarch (1676). 224. Icetes had carried two faces in one hood, and that he was become a Traytor.

1607.  Shaks., Cor., II. ii. 112.

1633.  Henry Montagu, Earl of Manchester, Manchester al Mondo (1636), 24. Disease and Death know no faces.

1889.  Barrie, Window in Thrums, 196. I have not known a man more easily taken in by persons whose speech had two faces.

  b.  To look (a person, etc.) in the face: to confront, meet with a steady gaze that implies courage, confidence, or (sometimes) defiance; also fig. To shew one’s face: to put in an appearance, to appear: lit. and fig.

1537.  Thersites, in Hazl., Dodsley, I. 408.

1561.  Norton & Sackv., Gorboduc, I. i.

1566.  Gascoigne, etc., Jocasta, II. ii.

a. 1662.  Heylin, Laud, II. v. (1719), 20. I dare look Death in the Face, and I hope the People too; Have you a care that I do not escape, and I care not how I die, whether by the hand of the Executioner, or the madness and fury of the People.

1706[?].  Swift, Wks. (1883), X. 389.

1748.  Richardson, Clarissa, Wks., 1883, V. 56. I should be ashamed to show my face in public.

1780.  Cowper, Table Talk, 321.

1841.  Longf., Village Blacksmith, ii.

1863.  Kingsley, Water-bab., vi. (1869), 250. The fairy looked him full in the face.

1867.  Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), I. iii. 118. A fact too clear to be misunderstood by any one who looks the evidence on the matter fairly in the face.

1882.  Stevenson, New Arab. Nts. (1884), 194. Not only did he never cross the threshold, but he never so much as showed face at a window.

  c.  In advb. phr.: Face downwards (foremost, uppermost), etc.: with the face in the direction indicated. (To fall) face on: = ‘face downwards.’

1856.  The Leisure Hour, V. 332/1. There was a doomed man among them, and suddenly he lost his hold, and fell face on into the water, as it hissed by us like a cauldron.

  d.  Face to (earlier † and, † for) face: looking one another in the face; also attrib. Face to face with: looking in the face of, confronting; lit. and fig. To see face to († with) face: ‘without the interposition of other bodies’ (J.), clearly.

a. 1300.  Cursor Mundi, 23603 (Cott.).

  fl. 1340.  Dan Michel of Northgate, The Ayenbite of Inwyt, 88. Vor þanne we him ssolle yzy face to face clyerlyche.

a. 1400–50.  Alexander, 357.

1535.  W. Stewart, The Croniclis of Scotland, II. 255.

1576.  A. Fleming, A Panoplie of Epistles, 2. But of these matters, and of other circumstances, we shall talke shortly face to face without interruption.

1632.  Lithgow, Trav., X. 490. Sir Walter Aston, (besides his hand writ) spoke seriously, face to face with him there, anent.

1767.  Gray, in Corr. Norton Nicholls (1843), 69. I am come, and shall rejoice to congratulate you face to face on your good luck.

1848.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 600. The two armies were now face to face.

1861.  T. A. Trollope, La Beata, I. vii. 155. The painter and the customer might never come face to face after all.

1864.  C. Knight, Passages of a Working Life, I. i. 105. I was to be a resident therein for some weeks; to hear the pulsations of the mighty heart; to be face to face with great public things.

1875.  Manning, Mission H. Ghost, ix. 260. If this be the reward of piety here, while we are wayfarers on earth, what will be its reward when we shall see God face to face?

1879.  Froude, Cæsar, i. 5. Philosophy, when we are face to face with real men, is as powerless as over the Iliad or King Lear. The overmastering human interest transcends explanation.

  attrib.  1858.  J. Martineau, Stud. Chr., 172. We are liable to lose the solemn face-to-face reality of the strife within us.

1864.  J. H. Newman, Apol., 379. I am rather asking what must be the face-to-face antagonist, by which to withstand and baffle the fierce energy of passion and the all-corroding, all-dissolving scepticism of the intellect in religious inquiries?

1865.  Masson, Rec. Brit. Philos., iv. 319. We possess an intuitive, or face-to-face knowledge of certain properties of matter ‘as it is in itself.’

  e.  Mil. In words of command; † Faces to the right, left, faces about = right, left, about face (cf. FACE v. 9 b); also fig. Hence, To turn face about, † again.

1598.  B. Jonson, Ev. Man in Hum., III. i. Good Captayne, faces about, to some other discourse.

1625.  Markham, Souldiers Accid., 20. Now if it be Motion in forme, both in Files and Rankes iointly together, then the words of direction are

1632.  J. Hayward, trans. Biondi’s Eromena, 77. He turned face againe with sword in hand.

1642.  Lanc. Tracts (Chetham Society), 65. They, knowing our Foote to be far behinde, turned faces about, and began to make head against us.

1881.  G. W. Cable, Madame Delphine, viii. 45. He was thinking of one, the image of whose face and form had never left his inner vision since the day it had met him in his life’s path and turned him face about from the way of destruction.

  f.  To throw, thrust, etc. (something) in (a person’s) face. lit. and fig.

1602.  Shaks., Ham., II. ii. 599.

c. 1645.  Howell, Lett. (1655), IV. xxi. 58. Who taints his soul may be said to throw dirt in Gods face.

1760.  Gray, Letter to Dr. Wharton, 22 June, in Wks., 1884, III. 53. You see him [Sterne] often tottering on the verge of laughter, and ready to throw his periwig in the face of his audience.

1852.  Thackeray, Esmond, I. xiv. ‘I fling the words in your face, my lord.’

1856.  Mrs. Browning, Aur. Leigh, II., Wks. (1889), VI. 76.

1884.  Miss Braddon, Ishmael, xxxi. His success was cast in his face as a reproach.

  g.  In various Biblical Hebraisms. Before the face of: before, in advance of, in front of. To set one’s face: to give a settled bearing or expression to the countenance. To put, set one’s face against: to take up an attitude of determined hostility towards. To set (one’s) face † for, to, towards: to take, etc. the direction of (a place); fig. to purpose, take the first steps to, towards.

a. 1300.  Cursor Mundi, 22757 (Cott.).

c. 1325.  English Metrical Homilies, 9.

a. 1340.  Hampole, Psalter, xvii. 46. I sall less þaim as dust bifore þe face of wynd.

1388.  Wyclif, Lev. xx. 3. Y schal sette faste [1382 putte] my face aȝens hym.

1535.  Coverdale, Mark i. 2. I sende my messaunger before thy face. [So in 1611 and 1881.]

1611.  Bible, Gen. xxxi. 21. So hee fled with all that hee had, and he rose vp and passed ouer the Riuer, and set his face toward the mount Gilead. Ibid., 2 Kings xii. 17. Hazael set his face to goe vp to Ierusalem. Ibid., Isa. l. 7. Therefore haue I set my face like a flint.

1624.  Bp. Hall, Rem., Wks. (1660), 11–2. Set your faces ye that are men in authority against a whole faction of vice.

1632.  Lithgow, Trav., X. 493. I set face from court for Scotland, suiting my discontents with a pedestrial progress, and my feet with the palludiate way.

1664.  Etheredge, Com. Revenue, IV. vii.

1781.  Cowper, Expostulation, 457.

1827.  Scott, Jrnl. (1890), II. 21. I can set my face to it boldly. I live not in the public opinion, not I; but egad! I live by it, and that is worse.

a. 1862.  Buckle, Civiliz. (1873), III. v. 469. The first duty of every one is to set his face in direct opposition to what he believes to be false.

1862.  Lowell, Biglow P., Poems, 1890, II. 326.

1884.  Times (weekly ed.), 3 Oct. 14/2. We set our faces to the South.

  3.  Viewed with reference to beauty, † To be in face: to be looking one’s best (cf. to be in voice). † Full of face: ? beautiful (but perh. the meaning is = ‘full faced, florid’).

  In the A. V. only in the Apocrypha; the translators of the canonical books always use ‘countenance’ in this connection.

1591.  Shaks., Two Gent., III. i. 103.

1611.  Bible, Judith xi. 21. There is not such a woman from one end of the earth to the other, both for beautie of face, and wisedome of wordes.

1712–4.  Pope, Rape Lock, I. 79.

1773.  Goldsm., Stoops to Conq., I. i. Is it one of my well-looking days child? am I in face to day?

1842.  Tennyson, The Sisters, 1.

1851.  Procter (Barry Cornwall), Songs, lxxxiii. 3.

  4.  With reference to its position in the front of the body, or as the part presented to encounter. In many phrases, some of which merely express the notion of confronting or opposition, without any reference to the lit. sense. Cf. 2 d. a. To meet (a person) in the face: to confront directly. To have the wind in one’s face; lit. and fig. To shut the door in, † upon (a person’s) face; lit. and fig.

c. 1430.  Lydg., Bochas, I. x. (1544), 15 b.

1632.  Lithgow, Trav., VII. 303. The Venetian Factor seased upon all, and shutting his gate vpon my face, sent me out my own budget.

1710.  Brit. Apollo, III. 3/1.

a. 1732.  T. Boston, Crook in Lot (1805), 17. People ply their business with skill and industry, but the wind turns in their face.

1768.  Sterne, Sent. Journ., Wks., 1885, II. 640. ’Tis shutting the door of conversation absolutely in his face.

1818.  Byron, Juan, I. clxiv.

1888.  Bryce, Amer. Commw., I. xiv. 193. The House tends to avoid all really grave and pressing questions, skirmishing round them, but seldom meeting them in the face or reaching a decision which marks an advance.

Mod.  A horse runs well with the wind in his face.

  b.  To fly in the face of (a person, etc.), lit. of a dog; fig. to act in direct opposition to.

1553.  T. Wilson, Rhet. (1580), 203. Let hym haue his will, and he will flye in your face.

1610.  Bp. Hall, Apol. Brownists, § 13. Let him shew them a Cudgell, they flie in his face.

1689.  Tryal Bps., 133. Shall he come and fly in the Face of the Prince? shall he say it is illegal?

1749.  Fielding, Tom Jones, III. viii. Thackum held, that this was flying in Mr. Allworthy’s face.

1752.  Trial of James Stewart, in State Trials (1813), xix. 172. The murder you are now inquiring into received no small aggravation, as it was flying in the face of the legislature itself.

1876.  E. FitzGerald, Letter (1889), I. 378–9. He has, however, been so far heroic, as to be always independent, whether of Wealth, Rank, and Coteries of all sorts: nay, apt to fly in the face of some who courted him.

1891.  The Nation (N.Y.), 10 Dec., LIII. 440/2. By persisting in his determination to remove him, he has had to fly in the face of adverse decisions from two Democratic justices of the Supreme Court.

  c.  In (the) face of: (a) in front of, directly opposite to; (b) face to face with, when confronted with; (c) in defiance of, in direct opposition to, notwithstanding.

  (a)  1766.  T. Page, The Art of Shooting Flying, 36.

1879.  Dowden, Southey, 14. He was for the first time in face of the sea.

  (b)  1871.  Smiles, Charac., ii. (1876), 36. In the face of bad example, the best of precepts are of but little avail. The example is followed, not the precepts.

1883.  Daily News, 31 Oct., 5/2. Not a man … would seriously advise withdrawal in the face of a Chinese invasion.

1885.  Manch. Exam., 3 June, 5/3. The difficulty of keeping up wages in the face of a drooping market.

  (c)  1837.  Baroness Bunsen, in Hare, Life, I. x. 461, 18 Oct. They now assert here, in the face of facts, that the cholera has ceased.

1848.  Macaclay, Hist. Eng., II. 276. They were convicted in the face of the letter and of the spirit of the law.

1885.  Manch. Exam., 29 Oct. 5/3. Plans, perseveringly carried out in the face of many discouragements.

  d.  To make face to: to offer resistance to. rare, after Fr. faire face à.

1829.  W. Irving, Conq. Granada, x. (1850), 74. The king and his commanders saw the imminent peril of the moment, and made face to the Moors, each commander guarding his quarter, and repelling all assaults.

  5.  Contextually equivalent to: Sight, presence. In various phrases: a. To fear, flee from, etc. the face of.

a. 1300.  Cursor Mundi, 953 (Cott.). Ȝee sal be flemed fra mi face.

c. 1325.  English Metrical Homilies, 85.

1611.  Bible, Gen. xxxv. 1. Make there an Altar vnto God, that appeared vnto thee, when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother.

1781.  Cowper, Retirement, 767.

  b.  Before or in the face of: before the eyes of, in the sight of. † Before faces: in the public view, in company.

a. 1300.  Cursor Mundi, 10460 (Gött.). Bot i him saw bifore mi face?

c. 1380.  Sir Ferumb., 191.

c. 1450.  Life of St. Cuthbert (Surtees), 845.

1532.  More, Confut. Tindale, Wks. 532/1. Ye shoulde see the whole summe and effecte of this tale concerning the faythe before your face layed together.

1632.  Lithgow, Trav., VIII. 370. The Prince … causing euery one of them to recite the praise of Mahomet before his face standing on a high scaffold.

a. 1656.  Bp. Hall, Rem., Wks. (1660), 248. Even the most carelesse boyes will be affraid to offend in the face of the monitor.

1656.  B. Harris, trans. Parival’s The History of This Iron Age, II. xvi. Arras, which was taken by the French, in the year 1640, before the face of thirty thousand men.

1760.  Goldsm., Cit. W., xviii. 3. I am taught, whenever I see a new-married couple more than ordinarily fond before faces, to consider them as attempting to impose upon the company or themselves.

  c.  To (a person’s) face: openly in his sight or hearing (implying frankness, effrontery or indecorum).

1553.  T. Wilson, Rhet. (1580), 188. You … gaue hym a frumpe, euen to his face, because he sawe hym so folishe.

1590.  Shaks., Com. Err., I. i. 91. Wilt thou flout me thus vnto my face?

1630.  Sir R. Baker, trans. Letters of Mounsieur de Balzac (1655), xlix. This is a cause, why to keep me in your favour, and to ingage you in my interests, I will not tell you to your face, that you are the Chrysostome of our Church.

1667.  J. Denham, Directions to a Painter, II. vi. 19.

1781.  Cowper, Expostulation, 283.

1848.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., II. 638. Sharp … read to their faces the whole service as it stood in the book.

Mod.  He does not like to be praised to his face.

  d.  In the face of: in the sight or hearing of, in the presence of. Also fig. In the face of the sun, of day, etc.: openly.

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., II. v. (1495), 31. Angels … ben stable in the face of god.

1540.  Act 32 Hen. VIII., c. 38 § 2. Marriages so contracted and solemnised in the face of the church were declared to be indissoluble.

a. 1618.  W. Bradshaw, in Spurgeon, Treas. Dav., Ps. xc. 8. The sins that are committed in deepest darkness are all one to him as if they were done in the face of the sun.

1711.  Addison, Spect., No. 112, 9 July, ¶ 7. Pray for him in the Face of the whole Congregation.

1769.  Blackstone, Comm., IV. 283. If the contempt be committed in the face of the court, the offender may be instantly apprehended and imprisoned.

1773.  Mad. D’Arblay, Early Diary, July. She does this in the fair face of day.

1845.  M. Pattison, Essays (1889), I. 19. You will forfeit, in the face of all men, the character of faithful ministers of God.

1858.  Buckle, Civiliz. (1873), II. viii. 509. In 1680, not only the workmen of Madrid, but large numbers of the tradesmen, organized themselves into bands, broke open private houses, and robbed and murdered the inhabitants in the face of day.

1875.  Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), I. 164, Protagoras. You proclaim in the face of Hellas that you are a Sophist or teacher of virtue and education.

  6.  The countenance as expressive of feeling or character; a countenance having a specified expression.

c. 1330.  Arth. & Merl., 1137.

1576.  A. Fleming, A Panoplie of Epistles, 357. They looke vpon vs with a fauourable countenance, and with a smiling face promise vs their beneuolence.

1611.  Shaks., Cymb., I. i. 13.

1611.  Bible, Ezra ix. 7. For our iniquities haue we, our kings and our priests, bin deliuered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captiuitie, and to a spoile, and to confusion of face, as it is this day.

1612.  Webster, White Devil, III. i.

1614.  Bp. Hall, A Recollection of such Treatises, 616. And all this with a face of sad pietie and stern mortification.

1676.  Etheredge, Man of Mode, IV. i.

1842.  Macaulay, The Battle of the Lake Regillus, xii.

  b.  To make, pull a (crooked, pitiful, wry, etc.) face: to distort the features. Hence the sb. is used colloq. for: A grimace.

1570.  T. North, trans. The Morall Philosophie of Doni (1888), III. 154. The poore Birde when he saw hir make that face to him was halfe afraide.

1602.  Shaks., Ham., III. ii. 263. Leaue thy damnable faces, and begin.

1604.  Middleton, Father Hubburd’s Tales, Wks. (Bullen), VIII. 72. The fantastical faces he coined in the receiving of the smoke.

1605.  Shaks., Macb., III. iv. 67.

1713.  Steele, The Englishman, No. 7., 20 Oct., 47. He will swallow with Transport what was squeezed from the Sloe, and make Faces at the Burgundian Grape.

1856.  C. Reade, It Is Never Too Late to Mend, xiv. I shall pull a long face.

1873.  Dixon, Two Queens, III. XIV. viii. 113. The almoner made no faces at a dance.

1888.  Mrs. H. Ward, R. Elsmere, II. II. xviii. ‘The adjective is excellent,’ she said with a little face.

1890.  G. M. Fenn, Double Knot, I. i. 71. Making what children call ‘a face,’ by screwing up her mouth and nose.

  7.  Command of countenance, esp. with reference to freedom from indications of shame; a ‘bold front’; impudence, effrontery, ‘cheek.’ † To put out of face: to put out of countenance. To † bear, have the face: to be sufficiently impudent.

1537.  Thersites, in Hazl., Dodsley, I. 401.

1552.  Bk. Com. Prayer. Communion, With what face then, or with what countenaunce shal ye heare these wordes?

1601.  Shaks., Jul. C., V. i. 11.

1654.  T. Warren, Unbelievers, 85. He a man of that face and fore-head.

1719.  De Foe, Crusoe (1840), II. vi. 148. With what face can I say anything?

1735.  Pope, Prol. Sat., 35.

1760.  Goldsm., Cit. W. (1840), 140. None are more blest with the advantages of face than Doctor Franks.

1821.  William Read, Rouge et Noir, II. xxiv. 45.

1851.  Longf., Gold. Leg., A Village Church.

1865.  Carlyle, Fredk. Gt., V. XIV. v. 218. The new Kur-Mainz, called upon, and conscious of face sufficient, had not scrupled.

1890.  The Spectator, 1 Nov., 600/2. What an amount of ‘face’ it argues in him that he comes over here and discourses to us of the costliness and corruption of our monarchical system!

  b.  To † push or show a face: to exhibit a bold front. To run one’s face: (U. S. slang) to obtain credit by impudence.

1758–65.  Goldsm., Ess. viii. There are three ways of getting into debt: first, by pushing a face.

1827.  Scott, Jrnl. (1890), II. 6. I asked him how they came to be so unprepared, and could not help saying I thought they had acted without consideration, and that they might have shown a face even to Canning.

1862.  Lowell, Biglow P., Poems (1890), II. 286. Men thet can run their face for drinks, an’ keep a Sunday coat.

  II.  Outward form, appearance.

  8.  External appearance, look; also semblance of (anything). Formerly used both of material and immaterial objects; now rare except of immaterial objects in such phrases as To adopt, carry, put on a [the] face of. † (To carry) a great face: an appearance of importance. † To have a face: to have an appearance, give promise of success.

c. 1381.  Chaucer, Parl. Foules, 316.

c. 1394.  P. Pl. Crede, 670. Þei schulden nouȝt after þe face · neuer þe folke demen.

1513.  More, in Grafton, Chron., II. 762. His part should have the face and name of a rebellion.

1565.  Jewel, Def. Apol. (1611), 137. This tale hath some face of truth.

1631.  J. Weever, Ancient Funerall Monuments, 771. All the monuments in this Church which beare any face of comelinesse or antiquity, are erected to the memorie of Clothiers, and such as belong to the mystery.

1674.  R. Godfrey, Inj. & Ab. Physic, Pref. That is a thing carries a great face with it.

1692.  R. L’Estrange, Josephus’ Antiq., IV. vi. (1733), 88. There was hardly any Face left of the Order, Piety and Devotion of former Times.

1754.  Hume, Hist. Eng., I. xvi. 395. France began gradually to assume the face of a regular civil government.

1760.  Foote, Minor, I., Wks., 1799, I. 247. Pillory me, but it has a face.

1765.  Croker, etc., Dict. Arts & Sc., Face of Plants, among botanists, signifies their general appearance.

1783.  Wesley, Wks. (1872), XIII. 419. I do not believe one word of this: Although I was often in his neighbourhood, I never heard a word of it before. It carries no face of probability.

1817.  Scott, Jrnl. (1890), II. 35. Cadell explained to me a plan for securing the copyright of the novels, which has a very good face.

1860.  Henry Gouger, A Personal Narrative of Two Years’ Imprisonment in Burmah, 1824–26, 41. I professed my ignorance of the touch of gold and the face of silver.

1865.  Bushnell, The Vicarious Sacrifice, i. (1866), 5. Vicarious … is a word that carries always a face of substitution, indicating that one person comes in place, showhow, of another.

1888.  Bryce, Amer. Commw., III. xcv. 356. The problems of the world and the dangers which beset society are always putting on new faces and appearing in new directions.

  b.  † At prime face = L. prima facie; at, in, on the fast face: at the first appearance or look, at first sight.

c. 1374.  Chaucer, Troilus and Criseyde, III. 870.

1430.  Lydgate, Chronicle of Troy, II. xiii.

1563.  T. Gale, Antidotarie, Pref., 2. Although it seeme harde … at the first face, yet folow thou styll the counsell.

1596.  Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot. (1885), 7. Nathir schawes furth Britannie all that it hes at the first face.

1641.  Shirley, The Cardinal, III. ii.

1810.  Syd. Smith, Wks. (1859), I. 192/1. We have seldom read a narrative, which, on the first face of it, looked so much like truth.

1826.  E. Irving, Babylon, I. II. 121. In the very first face and showing of the thing, if God hath two witnesses upon the earth, the Old and New Testaments are they.

  ¶ c. = PHASE (perh. confused with that word).

1646.  Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., VI. i. 278. In what face or position of the Moone, whether at the prime or full, or soone after.

1711.  Shaftesb., Charac., II. v. (1737), II. 322. This was not a Face of Religion I was like to be enamour’d with.

  9.  Visible state or condition; aspect. To put a new face upon: to alter the aspect of.

1587.  Harrison, England, II. v. (1877), I. 110. To stirre up such an exquisite face of the church as we imagine.

1592.  Davies, On the Immortality of the Soul, Introduction, xxxv.

1614.  Bp. Hall, A Recollection of such Treatises, 694. And (as oftentimes wee may reade Gods displeasure on the face of heaven) hee showes it in the weather.

1638.  Sir R. Baker, trans. Letters of Mounsieur de Balzac (1655), ii. I do not believe that Lyvie recounting the death of Cæsar, did lightly pass over the Voyage he intended against the Parthians; and that he stayed not a little to consider the new face he would have put upon the Common-wealth.

1722.  De Foe, Plague (1754), 19. the Face of London was now indeed strangely alter’d, I mean the whole Mass of Buildings, City, Liberties, Suburbs, Westminster, Southwark and altogether.

1781.  Hist. Europe, in Ann. Reg., 24/2. The arrival of so many ships and fresh men, with the artillery, stores, and various necessaries which they were capable of supplying, suddenly caused a new face of affairs, and afforded a renovation of vigour and life to every thing.

1820.  W. Irving, Sketch Bk., I. 215–6. A Sunday, too, in the country, is so holy in its repose: such a pensive quiet reigns over the face of nature, that every restless passion is charmed down, and we feel all the natural religion of the soul gently springing up within us.

1848.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 284. In the reign of Charles the Second, the traces left by ages of slaughter and pillage were still distinctly perceptible, many miles south of the Tweed, in the face of the country and in the lawless manners of the people.

  b.  Of a country: The configuration; assemblage of physical features. Also, † a description of the same.

1673.  W. Temple, Observations upon the United Provinces, Wks., 1731, I. iii. 43. No Man can tell the strange and mighty Changes, that may have been made in the Face and Bounds of Maritime Countries, at one time or other, by furious Inundations.

1681.  Cotton, The Wonders of the Peake (ed. 6), 309.

1779–81.  Johnson, L. P., Addison, Wks., III., 47. Comparisons of the present face of the country with the descriptions left us by the Roman poets.

1792.  Gouv. Morris, in Sparks, Life & Writ. (1832), II. 236. The military face of that country is, you know, understood by all military men with perfect exactness, having been the theatre of war for the two last centuries.

1859.  Jephson, Brittany, vi. 78. The clouds cleared off, the sun shone out, and I could observe the face of the country.

  10.  Outward show; assumed or factitious appearance; disguise, pretence; an instance of this; a pretext. Also, † To make a (good, great) face; to set a face on. † To interpret (words) to wicked face: to put a bad construction upon. Now only in To put (formerly bear out, set) a good face on (a matter): to make (a matter) look well; to assume or maintain a bold bearing (with regard to).

1382.  Wyclif, 2 Cor. v. 12. Hem that glorien in the face [so Tindale; 1611 and 1881 appearance], and not in the herte.

c. 1489.  Caxton, The Foure Sonnes of Aymon, ix. 227. Lete vs goo forth merely, & bere oute a good face as longe as we ben alyve.

1533.  Bellenden, Livy, IV. (1822), 377. He interpret thir wourdis of Posthumius to sa wikkit face, that the said Posthumius suld nocht onelie be odius to him, bot als to the hale ordoure.

1533.  More, Apol., xlvii., Wks., 920/2. In some place of the same dyoces also, they haue made a great face.

1542–5.  Brinkelow, Lament., 9 b. The pore forgotten, except it be with a few scrappes & bones, sent to Newgate for a face!

1568.  Grafton, Chron., II. 265. They then issued out in good order, and made good face and shewe to fight with the Englishe men, and to put theyr liues in aduenture.

1577.  trans. Bullinger’s Decades (1592), 95/2. There are many to be found, that haue the skill to talke to their neighbours with sugred tongues, and to make a face as though they loued them, when as in deede they doe vtterly hate them.

1590.  H. Smith, Wks. (1866), II. 286. If thou be but a pettifogger, and have no cunning, but set a face on things, then take heed how you adjure these spirits, lest they turn upon you again.

1647.  N. Bacon, Discourse of the Laws & Government of England, I. lx. (1682), 118. [He] never invaded the liberties of the Commons by any face of Prerogative.

a. 1680.  Butler, Rem. (1759), I. 278. They undermine the Laws and Liberties of the Nation, and to set a Face of civil Authority upon Tyranny, Fraud, and Violence.

1722.  De Foe, Plague (1754), 35. The very Court, which was then Gay and Luxurious, put on a Face of just Concern, for the publick Danger.

1748.  Richardson, Clarissa, Wks., 1883, VIII. 110. That she may set the better face upon her gestation.

1867.  Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), I. iv. 231, note. Richer … puts as good a face as he can on Hugh’s discomfiture.

  III.  The part of a thing presented to the eye.

  11.  The surface or one of the surfaces of anything.

  a.  gen. Chiefly in phrases orig. Hebraistic, The face of the earth, the deep, the waters.

c. 1340.  Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 4892. Þe face of þe erth sal brin with-out.

1382.  Wyclif, Gen. vii. 3. That the seed be sauyd vpon the face of al erthe.

1553.  T. Wilson, Rhet. (1580), 176. Al men, dispersed throughoute the face of the earthe.

1611.  Bible, Gen. i. 2. And the earth was without forme, and voyd, and darkenesse was vpon the face of the deepe: and the Spirit of God mooued vpon the face of the waters.

1632.  Lithgow, Trav., III. 102. The Women of the Citty Sio, are the most beautifull Dames, (or rather Angelicall creatures) of all the Greeks, vpon the face of the earth, and greatly giuen to Venery.

1665.  Hooke, Microgr., 88. I have very often in a Morning, when there has been a great hoar-frost, with an indifferently magnifying Microscope, observ’d the small Stiriæ, or Crystalline beard, which then usually covers the face of most bodies that lie open to the cold air.

1698.  J. Keill, Examination of Dr. Burnet’s Theory of the Earth (1734), 140. That great Deluge of waters which once overflowed the Face of the whole Earth.

1791.  Ess. Shooting (ed. 2), 230. If he is clad in a glaring colour, when the face of the country retains its verdure.

1887.  Frith, Autobiog., I. i. 3. Such schools as those to which I was sent, all more or less of the ‘Dotheboys Hall’ pattern, being improved off the face of the earth.

  † b.  Of a leaf in a book: = SIDE. Obs.

c. 1575.  Fulke, Confut. Doctr. Purgatory (1577), 5. I will come to the third leafe and second face, where you promise an orderly proceeding in the matter you take in hand. Ibid. (1579), Refut. Rastel, 730. From the first face of the 64 leafe to the seconde face of the 47 leafe.

  † c.  Astrol. The third part of a sign of the zodiac, extending over 10 degrees in longitude. See also quot. 1819. Obs.

1426.  Political Poems and Songs Relating to English History (1859), II. 139.

1587.  Golding, De Mornay, xxxiv. 543. Frutefull also, bycause of Iupiter in the Angel of the ascendant; but yet baren and Chyldlesse by reason of the Moone which was in y^e first face of Virgo.

1632.  Massinger, City Madam, II. ii. She in her exaltation, and he in his triplicite trine and face.

1819.  J. Wilson, Dict. Astrol., 96. FACE, a planet is in its face when it is at the same distance from the ☉ or ☽ as its house is from their houses, and in the same succession of signs.

  12.  The principal side (often vertical or steeply inclined) presented by an object; the ‘front’ as opposed to the ‘flanks.’ a. Of a cliff, etc.; also Geol. of a fault: The front or slope.

1632.  Lithgow, Trav., VI. 290. Arrived at night in a goodly Village, more full of Jews than Moores, called Hembaluda, situate on the face of a fruitfull Hill. Ibid., IX. 423. Wee Coasted the scurrile and Rockey face of Norway.

1751.  R. Paltock, P. Wilkins (1884), II. xviii. 203. Along the whole face of the rock … there were archways.

1828.  Scott, F. M. Perth, xiv. The tree, stunted and ill-fed, had sent its roots along the face of the rock in all directions to seek for supplies.

1839.  Murchison, Silur. Syst., I. xxxvi. 503. As the face of this fault sinks to the west or W.N.W. at an angle of 45°, it follows, that the inferior measures or ‘blue flats’ range 800 yards further to the west than the uppermost bed of coal.

1860.  Tyndall, Glac., I. xi. 75. Our way now lay along the face of a steep incline of snow.

1865.  Gosse, Land & Sea (1874), 388. The shale forms a noble precipice, rising with a rough face almost perpendicularly from the water’s edge.

  b.  Arch. (a) The front or broadside of a building; the ‘façade.’ (b) The surface of a stone exposed in a wall, (c) The front of an arch showing the vertical surfaces of the outside row of voussoirs.

1611.  Bible, Ezek. xli. 14. The bredth of the face of the house, and of the separate place toward the East, an hundreth cubites.

1624.  Wotton, Archit., in Reliq. Wotton. (1672), 17. The Face of the Building is narrow, and the Flank deep.

1664.  Evelyn, trans. Freart’s Archit., 132. It [the Architrave] is also frequently broken into two or three divisions, call’d by Artists Fascias, or rather plain Faces.

1765.  Croker, etc., Dict. Arts & Sc., Face, in archit., the front of a building, or the side which contains the chief entrance. Face of a stone, in masonry, that superficies of it which lies in the front of the work.

1848.  Rickman, Goth. Archit., 20. The cornice of this order, in Greece, consisted of a plain face, under the mutule.

1862.  Trollope, Orley F., 1. (ed. 4), 6. The face of the house from one end to the other was covered with vines and passion-flowers.

1874.  Knight, Dict. Mech., Face (Carpentry). a. The front of a jamb presented towards the room.

1876.  Gwilt, Archit., Gloss., Face of a stone, the face intended for the front or outward side of the work.

  13.  a. Of anything having two sides: The side usually presented outwards or upwards; the ‘front’ as opposed to the ‘back’; the ‘right’ side of cloth.

1611.  Bible, Isa. xxv. 7. He wil destroy in this mountaine the face of the couering cast ouer all people, and the vaile that is spread ouer all nations.

1820.  Keats, Cap & Bells, xxxix. 1.

1831.  G. R. Porter, Silk Manuf., 237. These points take the form of diagonal lines, extending parallel to each other, across the face of the cloth.

1874.  Boutell, Arms & Arm., vi. 89. The hollow under the face of the boss was open towards the reverse of the shield.

1876.  Encycl. Brit., IV. 137. That part of the anther to which the filament is attached and which is generally towards the petals, is the back, the opposite being the face.

1883.  Sir E. Beckett, Clocks, Watches & Bells, 146. The face of a wheel which turns in a year.

1888.  C. P. Brooks, Cotton Manuf., 127. The face of the card or the side which is in contact with the needles.

  b.  Of a coin or medal: The obverse; that which bears the effigy; sometimes used for either side. Hence in slang use: A coin (? obs.).

c. 1515.  Cocke Lorelles Bote (Percy Society), 13.

1588.  Shaks., Loves Labour’s Lost, V. ii. 617. Lon. The face of an old Roman coine, scarce seene.

a. 1700.  B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Nare-a-face-but-his own, not a Penny in his Pocket.

1725.  New Cant. Dict. Ne’er-a-face.

1762.  The Gentleman’s Magazine, Jan., 22. For the pars antica, or face of this dye is truly antick. Ibid., 23. The face [of a coin] should have a resembling bust of his majesty, executed in taste.

1856.  Smyth, Catal. Roman Family Coins, 233. In regard to the portrait on the other face of the medal, several opinions are expressed, though nothing satisfactory.

  c.  Of a document: The inscribed side. Hence On, upon the face of (a document, etc.): in the words of, in the plain sense of. Also fig.

1632.  Lithgow, Trav., VI. 288. Their Great Seale, sticking fast, or locked in vpon the lower face of the Parchment, the impression whereof, had the Effigies of the 12 Apostles, and Christ in the midst.

1641.  Bp. Hall, Rem., Wks. (1660), 80. Every novelty carries suspicion in the face of it.

1719.  F. Hare, Ch. Authority Vind., Preface, p. viii. The Reader has my Thoughts only as to the Power and Authority of the Ministers and Governours of the Church, and that as it appears upon the Face of Scripture.

1748.  Richardson, Clarissa, Wks., 1883, VIII. 186. An unprejudiced eye, upon the face of the letter, would condemn the writer of it.

1817.  W. Selwyn, Law Nisi Prius (ed. 4), II. 1248. It ought to appear on the face of the plea, that [etc.].

a. 1832.  Bentham, Ess. Lang., Wks., 1843, VIII. 327. Of the history of language, no inconsiderable part remains to this day written upon the face of it.

  d.  Of a playing card: The marked or picture side.

c. 1645.  Howell, Lett. (1891), I. III. xxxii. The King never shews his game, but throws his cards with their faces down on the table.

  e.  Of a dial: The surface which bears the hour marks, etc. Of a clock or watch: The dial plate (perh. with allusion to the human face).

[1751.  R. Paltock, P. Wilkins (1884), II. xix. 218. If I ask it [a watch] what time of day it is, I look but in its face, and it tells me presently.]

1787.  Columbian Mag., I. 329/1. The face of the dial will be parallel with the plane of the equator.

1837.  Mrs. Carlyle, Lett., I. 86–7. They are not watches so much as lockets with watch faces.

1840.  Barham, Ingol. Leg., Look at the Clock, ‘Grandmother’s Clock!’… nothing was altered at all—but the Face!

1858.  O. W. Holmes, Aut. Breakf.-t., ix. (1891), 211. [He] looked at the face of the watch,—said it was getting into the forenoon.

1877.  Mrs. Molesworth, Cuckoo Clock (1891), 41. Some brilliant moonbeams, one of which lighted up brightly the face of the clock with its queer over-hanging eaves.

1892.  The Nation (N.Y.), 23 June, LIV. 474/3. Their maker knew that a volume without an index resembles a clock-face without any hands to show either seconds, minutes, or hours.

  f.  Of a book: The front or fore-edge.

1876.  Encycl. Brit., IV. 43/1. After the face [of a book] has been ploughed the back springs back into its rounded form.

  14.  Each of the surfaces of a solid. In a regular solid, a crystal, diamond, etc.: Each of the bounding planes.

1625.  in Rymer, Fœdera, XVIII. 236. One Aggett cutt with twoe Faces garnished with Dyamonds.

1750.  D. Jeffries, Treat. Diamonds & Pearls, Expl. Tech. Terms, Collet … the small horizontal plane, or face, at the bottom of the Brilliant.

1855.  Bain, The Senses and the Intellect, II. ii. § 11. A crystal with cut faces thus gives a plurality of white emanations occurring on the retina together, and consequently possesses in a high degree the supposed requisite of lustre or brilliancy.

1863.  Huxley, Man’s Place Nat., II. 80. The occipital foramen of Mycetes, and still more of the Lemurs, is situated completely in the posterior face of the skull.

1873.  Dawson, Dawn of Life, vii. (1875), 188. Crystalline faces occur abundantly in many undoubted fossil woods and corals.

1878.  A. H. Green, Coal, i. 17. The faces of the block of coal on these sides are smooth and shining.

1884.  Bower & Scott, De Bary’s Phaner. & Ferns, 177. The lateral faces, turned towards the periphery and middle of the stem, are covered thickly with sieve-plates, which are only separated from one another by narrow fibre-like hands.

  15.  In implements, tools, etc.: The acting, striking, or working surface. In a molar tooth: The grinding surface. In a knife: The edge.

1703.  Moxon, Mech. Exerc., 4. In Fig. 5. A the Face [of a hammer].

1791.  Ess. Shooting (ed. 2), 345. The face of the hammer [of the gun] … may be too hard or too soft.

1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Face. The edge of a sharp instrument.

1872.  T. H. Huxley, Lessons in Elementary Physiology, vi. 143. The face of the grinding teeth and the edges of the cutting teeth.

1874.  Knight, Dict. Mech., Face, (Carpentry), 4 b. The sole of a plane. Ibid., Face (Gearing). That part of the acting surface of a cog which projects beyond the pitch line. Ibid., Face (Grinding). That portion of a lap or wheel which is employed in grinding, be it the edge or the disk.

1888.  Lockwood’s Dict. Terms Mech. Eng., 133. The face of an anvil is its upper surface.

  16.  An even or polished surface.

1881.  Mechanic, § 449. Where one piece [of glass] is ground against another to bring them to a face.

1888.  Lockwood’s Dict. Terms Mech. Eng., 133. The face of a casting is that surface which is turned or polished.

  IV.  Technical uses.

  17.  Fortification. a. (see quot. 1727); b. (see quot. 1859, and cf. BASTION).

  a.  1489.  Caxton, Faytes of A., II. xiv. 118. A propre place muste be ordeyned and made atte euery face of the walles for to sette gonnes and other engyns for to shute without yf nede be to make deffence.

1672.  Lacey, trans. Tacquet’s Milit. Archit., iii. 4. The face which is the weakest part of the fortification, is defended by [etc.].

1727.  Bailey, Face of a Place is the Front, that is comprehended between the flanked Angles of the two neighbouring Bastions.

1800.  Wellington, in Gurw., Disp. I. 190. I attacked it [Dummul] in three places, at the gateway and on two faces.

1849–50.  Alison, Hist. Europe, VIII. xlix. § 24. 27. The efforts of Lord Cornwallis had been directed against the northern face of the fortress of Seringapatam; and Tippoo, anticipating an attack in the same quarter, had greatly strengthened the defences in that direction.

1879.  Cassell’s Techn. Educ., IV. 138/2. The kaponiers are generally detached, and are situated in the middle of each long face.

  b.  1676.  Lond. Gaz., No. 1119/3. About Noon, a Mine in a Face of the same Hornwork … took Fire.

1818.  Jas. Mill, Brit. India, II. V. v. 478. Having made a breach in one of the bastions, [we] destroyed the faces of the two that were adjacent.

1859.  F. A. Griffiths, The Artillerist’s Manual (ed. 9), 261. The Faces of a work … are those parts which form a salient angle, projecting towards the country.

  18.  Mil. (See quot. 1853.)

1853.  Stocqueler, The Military Encyclopædia, 101. The faces of a square are the different sides of a battalion, &c., which, when formed into a square, are all denominated faces; viz., the front face, the right face, the left face, and the rear face.

1885.  Times (weekly ed.), 23 Jan. 3/1. This face had not quite closed up before it was attacked.

  19.  Ordnance. ‘The surface of metal at the muzzle of a gun’ (Knight).

1727.  Bailey, Face of a Gun is the Superficies of the Metal at the Extremity of the Muzzle.

1867.  in Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk.

  20.  Mining. a. ‘In any adit, tunnel, or stope, the end at which work is progressing or was last done’ (Raymond, Mining Gloss.).

1708.  J. C., Compl. Collier (1845), 46. They frequently hole, or cut through from one Board to another, to carry their Air forwards with their Works, and to the end or Face of their Boards.

1867.  W. W. Smyth, Coal & Coal Mining, 131. Supporting the roof at the immediate ‘face’ by temporary props.

1888.  F. Hume, Madame Midas, I. v. They … visited several other faces of wash…. Each face had a man working at it, sometimes two.

  b.  ‘The principal cleaving-plane at right angles to the stratification. (Driving) on the face: against or at right angles with the face’ (Raymond, Mining Gloss.). Face on: (see quot. 1883).

1867.  W. W. Smyth, Coal & Coal-mining, 25. Faces, running most regularly parallel.

1878.  Huxley, Physiography, 238. The direction along which these joints run is often known as the face of the coal.

1883.  W. S. Gresley, Gloss. Terms Coal-mining, 99. Face on … working a mine parallel to the cleat or face.

  21.  Steam-engine. The flat part of a slide-valve; also, the corresponding flat part on a cylinder, on which the slide-valve travels.

1838.  Wood, Railr., 346. The slide would be moved to the extremity of the face of the cylinder.

1874.  Knight, Dict. Mech., Face, (Steam-engineering). a. The flat part of a slide-vale on which it moves. b. The flat portion of a cylinder forming a seat for a valve.

  22.  Typog. That part of a type (or punch) which has the form of the letter. Also, The printing surface of type. Face of the page: (see quot.). Full face (type): as large as the body of the type will admit of. Heavy face (numerals or type): having a broader outline, and printing thicker than the ordinary. Old face (type): a form of Roman letter (characterized by oblique ceriphs and various other features) revived by Whittingham in 1844, and since very extensively used.

1683.  Moxon, Mech. Exercises, II. 201. So placed the Face of the Letter runs less hazzard of receiving dammage.

1699.  A. Boyer, Eng. & Fr. Dict., s.v. A letter that has a good face (among printers), un caractère qui a un bel œil.

1787.  Printer’s Gram., 41. Kerned Letters are such as have part of their Face hang over.

1824.  J. Johnson, Typogr., II. 21. Short letters are all such as have their face cast on the middle of their square metal.

1853.  Caxton & Art of Printing, vii. 155. One of the heap which lies in the right position, both as regards the face being upwards, and the nick being outwards.

1871.  Amer. Encycl. Printing, 167/2. Face of the Page.—The upper side of the page, from which the impression is taken.

1875.  Ure, Dict. Arts, III. 1049. In this metal the face of the letter intended to be cast is sunk.

1891.  J. Winsor, Columbus, xxi. 524. The heavy face numerals show the successive holders of the honors of Columbus.

1892.  The Nation (N.Y.), 25 Feb., LIV. 155/3. The typographical effect of Flügel’s dictionary is excellent. The page is divided into triple columns, and the leading word of each article is in full-face.

  † 23.  Card-playing = face-card: (see 27). Obs.

1674.  Cotton, Complete Gamester, in Singer, Hist. Cards, 347. If you have neither ace nor face, you may throw up your game.

  24.  Tea trade. (See quot.) Cf. FACE v. 15.

1886.  Chambers’ Encycl., IX. 323. Prussian blue … native indigo and gypsum are the real materials employed for giving the ‘face’ as it is called.

  † 25.  A face of fur: ? a set of furs. Cf. FACE v. 12.

1562.  J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr., I. lv.

  V.  attrib. and Comb.

  26.  General relations: a. attributive (sense 1), as face-cosmetic, -sponge; (sense 12 b), as face-mortar, -work; (sense 13 a), as face-side; (sense 20), as face-line. b. objective (sense 1), as face-levelling, -tearing vbl. sbs., face-mending, -wringing, ppl. a., face-mender; -moulder; (sense 6 b), as face-maker; (sense 3), as face-affecting ppl. a. c. locative (sense 1), as face-hot adj., face-joy, -spot; (sense 5), as face-flatterer.

1675.  Cocker, Morals, 24. *Face-affecting Lasses, Neglect their Graces, to attend their Glasses.

1887.  M. Corelli, Thelma, II. 207. There were the ‘professional’ beauties, who, if suddenly deprived of elegant attire and *face-cosmetics, turned out to be no beauties at all, but very ordinary, unintelligent persons.

1859.  Tennyson, Idylls, Vivien, 821.

1654.  Gayton, Pleasant Notes upon Don Quixot, II. iv. 49. You see that all blessed Faces are not charitable, for who, (but one that will carry no coales) would have rewarded a friend thus for his opinion, only in *Face-hot presses.

1850.  Mrs. Browning, Poems, II. 336, ‘The Mask.’

1650.  J. Bulwer, Anthropometamorphosis, Preface.

1883.  W. S. Gresley, Gloss. Terms Coal-mining, 99. Keep the *face line of the stall neither fully face on nor end on.

1756.  Cowper, in Connoisseur, cxxxiv. First to take notice of those buffoons in society, the Attitudinarians and *Face-makers.

1808.  Wolcott (P. Pindar), One more Peep at the Royal Academy, Wks., 1812, V. 367.

1745.  E. Haywood, The Female Spectator (1748), III. 156. Have they not their tailors, barbers, aye, and their *facemenders too, to engross as much of theirs? Ibid., 234. Any of those injudicously called *facemending stratagems.

1793.  Smeaton, Edystone L., § 222. The beating of the best *face mortar.

1650.  J. Bulwer, Anthropometamorphosis, Preface.

c. 1790.  Imison, Elements of Science and Art, II. 7. Prepare some strong gum arabic water, or size, with which you must brush over the *face side [of a print].

1885.  Lady Brassey, The Trades, 311–2. There were little black balls of reef-sponges, covered with the black bodies of their manufacturers, forming a sort of shiny coat, which made them look anything but suitable for use as *face-sponges.

1685.  Cooke, Marrow Chirurg. (ed. 4), VII. i. 270. Pimpernel cleanseth *Face-Spots.

1793.  Smeaton, Edystone L., § 213. The *face work of the subordinate parts.

a. 1613.  Overbury, Charac., Hypocrite, A *face-wringing ballet-singer.

  27.  Special comb.: face-ache, pain in the nerves of the face; face-ague, an acute form of face-ache, tic douloureux; face-airing vbl. sb. (Mining), see quot.; face-bedded ppl. a., (a stone) placed so that the grain runs along the face; † face-bone = CHEEK-BONE; † face-bread, Heb. le· ḥem happānīm = SHOW-BREAD; † face-breadth, extent of the face (sense 1) from side to side; face-card, a playing-card bearing a face (of a king, queen or knave) = COAT CARD; face-chuck (Mech.) = face-plate; face-cloth, a cloth laid over the face of a corpse; face-cog (Mech.), one of the cogs or teeth on the ‘face’ of a wheel; face-guard, a contrivance for protecting the face, esp. in some industrial processes, fencing, etc.; face-hammer (see quots.); face-joint (see quot.); face-knocker, one in which the fixed portion has the form of a human face; face-lathe (see quots.); † face-making vbl. sb., portrait-painting; face-mould (see quots.); face-painter, (a) a painter of portraits, (b) one who applies paint to the face; face-painting vbl. sb., portrait-painting; face-physic, collect. appliances for the face; face-piece (Naut.), see quot.; face-plan (see quot.); face-plate (Mech.), an enlargement of the end of the mandrel (of a lathe) to which work may be attached for the purpose of being ‘faced’ or made flat; also attrib., as in face-plate coupling; † face-playing vbl. sb., the exhibition of feeling or sentiment by the play of the countenance; face-presentation (Midwifery), presentation face foremost in birth; face-shaft (Arch.), see quot.; face-stone (Arch.) the slab of stone forming the face or front, esp. in a cornice, an entablature, etc.; face-turning-lathe = face-lathe; face-value, the amount stated on the face (of a note, postage-stamp, etc.), the apparent or nominal value; also fig.; face-wall (Building), front wall; face-wheel (Mech.) = contrate-wheel (see CONTRATE 2); also ‘a wheel whose disk-face is adapted for grinding and polishing’ (Knight); † face-wind, a wind blowing against one’s face.

1865.  Dickens, Mut. Fr., I. v. It gave you the *face-ache to look at his apples.

1869.  Eng. Mech., 12 Nov., 211/1. Faceache I believe to be … inflammation of the nerves.

1883.  W. S. Gresley, Gloss. Terms Coal-mining, 99. *Face airing, that system of ventilating the workings which excludes the airing of the goaves.

1863.  Archæol. Cantiana, V. 14. Jambs two feet eight inches apart, *face-bedded.

1883.  Stonemason, Jan. It is rare now for a face-bedded stone to be fixed in a building.

1801.  Southey, Thalaba, VIII. ii.

a. 1656.  Bp. Hall, Rem., Wks. (1660), 238. The matter and form of the Ark, and Altars, and Tables of the *Face-bread.

1651.  J. F[reake], Agrippa’s Occ. Philos., 271. Nine *face-bredths make a square well set man.

1826.  J. Wilson, Noct. Ambr., Wks. 1855, I. 302. I’m sick o’ Whust itsel, I’ve sic desperate bad hauns dealt to me noo—no an ace ance in a month, and no that unseldom a haun without a *face-caird, made up o’ deuces, and trays, and fours, and fives, and be damned to them.

1888.  Sheffield Gloss. (E.D.S.). Face-card, a court card.

1888.  Lockwood’s Dict. Terms Mech. Eng., 133. *Face chuck, a face plate.

1748.  Richardson, Clarissa, VII. lxxxi. 281. The moment she saw the coffin, she withdrew her hand from mine and, and with impatience pushed aside the lid. As impatiently she removed the *face-cloth.

1859.  Tennyson, Idylls, Guinevere, 7.

1833.  J. Holland, Manuf. Metal, II. 61. An axil which carries likewise another [wheel] with *face-cogs.

1874.  Knight, Dict. Mech. *Face-guard. A mask with windows for the eyes, adapted to the use of persons exposed to great heat, as in glass-houses, forging heavy works, and in various metallurgic furnace operations.

1883.  J. W. Mollett, Dict. Art & Archæol., 134. Face guard on a helmet, a bar or bars of iron protecting the face.

1874.  Knight, Dict. Mech. *Face-hammer. One with a flat face, as distince from one having pointed or edged peens. Ibid. (1884), IV. 324/1. Face Hammer (Masonry), one with one blunt and one cutting end. Ibid. (1874). *Face-joint. That joint of a voussoir which appears on the face of the arch.

1769.  Public Advertiser, 18 May 3/4. Iron *Face Knockers.

1884.  Knight, Dict. Mech., 324/1. *Face Lathe. 1. a pattern-maker’s lathe for turning bosses, core prints, and other face-work…. 2. A lathe with a large face-plate and a slide rest adjustable in front on its own shears. Transverse usually but not necessarily.

1888.  Lockwood’s Dict. Terms Mech. Eng., Face lathe, a lathe chiefly or exclusively used for surfacing.

1623.  Webster, Duchess of Malfi, III. ii.

1823.  P. Nicholson, Pract. Build., 222. *Face-mould.—A mould for drawing the proper figure of a hand-rail on both sides of the plank; so that, when cut by a saw, held at a required inclination, the two surfaces of the rail-piece, when laid in the right position, will be every where perpendicular to the plan.

1876.  in Gwilt, Archit., Gloss.

1697.  Dryden’s Virgil, Life (1709), 16 (Jod.). Ill *facepainters, not being able to hit the true features, endeavoured to make amends by a great deal of impertinent landscape and drapery.

1847.  L. Hunt, Men, Women, & B., I. xiv. 276. The highest dressers, the highest face-painters, are not the loveliest women, but such as have lost their loveliness, or never had any.

1832.  S. R. Maitland, Ess., 107. note, ‘He took me for a face-painter!’ said a late eminent artist.

1706.  Art of Painting, 399. He [Henry Anderton] was likewise a Landskip Painter and in Still Life; as also a good Imitator of his Master, Serjeant Streater, till he left his way, and fell to *Face-Painting.

1862.  W. M. Rossetti, The Royal Academy Exhibition, in Fraser’s Magazine, July, 73. Whose picture … shows a higher character of face-painting.

1611.  Donne, Ignatius’ Conclave (1652), 129. Women tempting by Paintings and *Face-Physick.

a. 1613.  Overbury, Charac., Faire Milkmayd. One looke of hers is able to put all face-physicke out of countenance.

c. 1850.  Rudim. Navig. (Weale), 117. *Face-piece, a piece of elm, generally tabled on to the fore-part of the knee of the head, to assist the conversion of the main piece, and likewise to shorten the upper bolts, and prevent the cables from rubbing against them as the knee gets worn.

1874.  Knight, Dict. Mech., *Face-plan. (Architectural drawing.) The principal or front elevation.

1841.  Tredgold, Mill-work, 428. The *face-plate has four adjusting screws for securing the work.

1874.  Knight, Dict. Mech, Face-plate. (Turning.) A place screwed on to the spindle of a lathe, and affording a means of attaching the work to be turned.

1888.  Lockwood’s Dict. Terms Mech. Eng. The term face plate is more commonly applied in the shops to the ordinary face chucks. Ibid., Face-plate coupling = Flanged coupling.

1789.  Burney, Hist. Mus., IV. 319. She perfectly possessed that flexibility of muscles and features, which constitutes *face-playing.

1841.  Rigby, Midwifery, III. iii. 130. The opinion that *face-presentations were preternatural, continued to prevail upon the Continent.

1849.  Ecclesiologist, IX. June, 345. The small plinths which served as bases to the double semi-cylindrical *face-shafts, formerly running up the face of the piers, were also brought to light.

1853.  Ruskin, Stones Ven., III. App. x. 238. The *face-stone and often the soffit, are sculptured. Ibid., III. 238. Arches decorated only with coloured marble, the facestone being coloured, the soffit white.

1841.  Tredgold, Mill-work, 428. *Face-turning lathe.

1878.  F. A. Walker, Money, xx. 461. Some English Merchant who is bound to pay money in the United States for more than the *face-value of his claim.

1883.  J. L. Whitney, in Lit. World, 8 Sept. 293/1. He must take the advertisements of publishers at their face value, and regard them as what they claim to be.

1888.  Daily News, 13 July 3/3. If postcards were sold at the face value of the stamps upon them.

1891.  Law Times, XCI. 224/1. The note is still worth its face value.

1874.  Knight, Dict. Mech., *Face-wall. (Building.) The front wall.

1833.  J. Holland, Manuf. Metal, II. 191. The axle is turned round by a *face or crown wheel fixed upon the extremity of it.

1879.  Cassell’s Techn. Educ., I. 349/2. Face-wheels have their cogs or pins placed perpendicularly to the face of the wheel.

a. 1722.  Lisle, Husb. (1757), 113. A *face or back-wind signifies little.