death mask

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noun

a cast taken of a person's face after death.

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His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

His boss, who he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

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Compare life mask.

Origin of death mask

First recorded in 1875–80

Words nearby death mask

Death in Venice, death knell, deathless, deathlike, deathly, death mask, death match, death metal, death of, Death of a Salesman, death on

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use death mask in a sentence

Giani says the real death mask belongs to a private collector, which is what Brown insinuates in his book.
Dan Brown’s ‘Inferno’ Sparks Dante Fever in Florence|Barbie Latza Nadeau|May 30, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Philip Shenon reports on the desperate drive to keep the golden death mask and Egypt's other treasures from harm.
Saving King Tut|Philip Shenon|January 30, 2011|DAILY BEAST
She possesses an almost Cubist face, with a receded hairline and crooked grimace, that looks like a death mask.
Tim Burton's Twisted Art|Kate Taylor|November 19, 2009|DAILY BEAST
It is only my own self—myself gone behind and peeping round a corner, grinning back sympathy at me from its sickening death-mask!
There and Back|George MacDonald

Priceless objects had been found, including the King's death mask of painted gold.
The Egyptian Cat Mystery|Harold Leland Goodwin
For one horrid moment it seemed to Wade that the fixed grimace of the death-mask expressed hideous mirth.
King Spruce, A Novel|Holman Day
His eyelids closed and his face became rigid as a death mask of a man dead in passion.
Casa Braccio, Volumes 1 and 2 (of 2)|F. Marion Crawford
There was a death-mask of papier-maché on the back of his head with appropriate funereal drapings down the body.
The Grey Wig: Stories and Novelettes|Israel Zangwill

British Dictionary definitions for death mask

death mask

noun

a cast of a person's face taken shortly after deathCompare life mask

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