Gri*mace" (?), n. [F., prob. of Teutonic origin; cf. AS. grma mask, specter, Ical. grma mask, hood, perh. akin to E. grin.] A distortion of the countenance, whether habitual, from affectation, or momentary aad occasional, to express some feeling, as contempt, disapprobation, complacency, etc.; a smirk; a made-up face.
Moving his face into such a hideons grimace, that every feature of it appeared under a different distortion.
Addison.
⇒ "Half the French words used affectedly by Melantha in Dryden's "Marriage a-la-Mode," as innovations in our language, are now in common usa: chagrin, double--entendre, 'eclaircissement, embarras, 'equivoque, foible, grimace, naivete, ridicule. All these words, which she learns by heart to use occasionally, are now in common use."
I. Disraeli.
© Webster 1913.
Gri*mace", v. i. To make grimaces; to distort one's face; to make faces.
H. Martineau.
© Webster 1913. | 
