grease paint


noun
  1. an oily mixture of melted tallow or grease and a pigment, used by actors, clowns, etc., for making up their faces.

  2. theatrical makeup.

Origin of grease paint

1
First recorded in 1885–90

Words Nearby grease paint

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use grease paint in a sentence

  • It made her comb her hair all awry and apply the grease-paint to her cheeks with a trembling hand.

    The Bill-Toppers | Andre Castaigne
  • Mr. Tree gave him one by taking a stick of grease paint and sketching it in outline on the glass.

  • The idea is, of course, to keep powder, grease paint and cold cream from getting into and soiling the hair.

  • Make a few dots with the carmine grease paint stick on each cheek and on the end of the chin.

  • That's what eats the heart out of me, mother; and makes me hate my face every time I sit down to put on the grease paint.

    Contemporary One-Act Plays | Sir James M. Barrie

British Dictionary definitions for greasepaint

greasepaint

/ (ˈɡriːsˌpeɪnt) /


noun
  1. a waxy or greasy substance used as make-up by actors

  2. theatrical make-up

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012