GRIMACE • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Grimace

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/grˈɪməs/ Listen

noun

Grimace n. A distortion of the countenance, whether habitual, from affectation, or momentary and occasional, to express some feeling, as contempt, disapprobation, complacency, etc.; a smirk; a made-up face. "Moving his face into such a hideous grimace, that every feature of it appeared under a different distortion." Note: "Half the French words used affectedly by Melantha in Dryden's 'Marriage a-la-Mode," as innovations in our language, are now in common use: chagrin, double-entendre, éclaircissement, embarras, équivoque, foible, grimace, naïvete, ridicule. All these words, which she learns by heart to use occasionally, are now in common use."

verb

Grimace v. i. To make grimaces; to distort one's face; to make faces.

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Etymology of 'Grimace'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Grimace" Quotes from Famous Books

... than I care to have it," responded Mrs. Blake with a wry grimace and putting her hand to her breast as if to appease disturbing qualms. "It was so stuffy in the cabin I could not bear it. It's more pleasant here but it's getting a little cool and I think I'll go below. Where have you children ...

— The Lion and The Mouse - A Story Of American Life • Charles Klein

... Elinor, "if you can spare me. Marian has been far from amiable; and if you are going to pay her compliments, I shall very soon be as bad as she. Good-bye." Douglas gratefully went with her to the door. She looked very hard at him, and almost made a grimace as they ...

— The Irrational Knot - Being the Second Novel of His Nonage • George Bernard Shaw

... on him a pretty grimace of triumph, plainly rejoicing because his impetuous resignation had been overruled so autocratically. But Mayo gave a somber return to the raillery of her eyes. He had spoken out to Marston as a man, and had been treated with the contemptuous indifference which would ...

— Blow The Man Down - A Romance Of The Coast - 1916 • Holman Day

... the cut on my knuckles, and I could feel him aching for a good excuse to make his threat a reality. But finally, he grunted and swung on his heel, ordering the crew with him. Grundy threw us a final grimace and skulked off behind him. Finally there was only Wilcox, who grinned, shrugged, and shut the door quietly behind him. And we were left with the mess free-fall had made of ...

— Let'em Breathe Space • Lester del Rey

... a phial of cordial which he had brought with him. The hours passed, each seeming longer than a day; at last the convulsive twitching of the jaws ceased; the jaw had fallen, the dark cavern of the toothless mouth yawned in a set grimace, the vitreous eyes were turned up into the head: the old man was dead. But Don Silverio did not leave him; two sows and a hog were in a stye which was open to the house; he knew that they would come and gnaw the corpse if it were ...

— The Waters of Edera • Louise de la Rame, a.k.a. Ouida

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