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

King Tutankhamun’s tomb, containing the pharaoh’s solid-gold inner coffin and death mask.

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

She couldn’t see it on his face, which was like a death mask: grim and lifeless with hollows for eyes.

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor