death mask

American  

noun

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

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death mask British  

noun

1. a cast of a person's face taken shortly after death Compare life mask

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Etymology

Origin of death mask

First recorded in 1875–80

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

death mask

King Tut was famously discovered with his face sheathed in a gold death mask that weighed over 20 pounds.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 16, 2026

His death mask is held at Moyse Hall and Norwich Castle.

From BBC ● Apr. 22, 2025

“She had the death mask of her mother.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 10, 2023

For the AIDs era, there’s a robe made of cassette tapes, topped by a many-headed mushroom-cloud-like death mask.

From New York Times ● Dec. 28, 2022

And now Snape looked at Voldemort, and Snape’s face was like a death mask.

From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling