set one's face against


Strongly disapprove, as in Her parents set their faces against her eloping. The term set one's face has been used in the sense of “assume a fixed facial expression” since the mid-1500s.

Words Nearby set one's face against

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.