Fāçe1, n.
n. [Fr. face, Pr. fassa, It. faccia, O. Sp. faz, N. Sp. haz, from Lat. facies, make, form, shape, face, from facere, to make.]
Sense 1. The exterior form or appearance of any thing; that part which presents itself to the view; especially, the front part or surface; that which particularly offers itself to the view of a spectator. “The whole face of the ground.” Gen. ii. 6.
Lake Leman wooes me with its crystal face. Byron.
Sense 2. A surface of a thing; that part of a body which may be seen from one point, or which is presented toward a certain direction; one of the bounding planes of a solid; as, a cube has six faces.
Sense 3. (Mach.) The principal dressed surface of a plate, disk, or pulley; the principal flat surface of a part.
Sense 4. Outside appearance; surface show; look; external aspect, whether natural, assumed, or acquired. “A face of gravity and piety in the former administration.” Burnet.
They took him to set a face upon their own malignant designs. Milton.
This would produce a new face of things in Europe. Addison.
Sense 5. That part of the head of an animal, especially of a human being, in which are the principal organs of sense, as the eyes, the nose, the mouth; visage; countenance.
In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread. Gen. iii. 19.
Sense 6. Cast of features; expression of countenance; look; air.
We set the best face on it we could. Dryden.
Sense 7. Maintenance of the countenance free from abasement or confusion; confidence; boldness; shamelessness; effrontery; brass.
This is the man that has the face to charge others with false citations. Tillotson.
Sense 8. Presence; sight; front; as in the phrases, before the face of, in the immediate presence of; in the face of, before, in, or against the front of; as, to fly in the face of danger; to the face of, directly to; from the face of, from the presence of; and the like.
Sense 9. Mode of regard, whether favorable or unfavorable; favor or anger; mostly in scriptural phrases. “I will set my face against them.” Ezek. xv. 7.
Came I forth diligently to seek thy face [i. e., favor]. Prov. vii. 15.
To make a face, to distort the countenance; to put on an unnatural or purposely altered look. Face to face, one against another; in the immediate presence.—Face of a bastion (Mil.), the part between the salient and the shoulder angle. [See Illust. of Bastion.]—Face of a gun (Mil.), the surface of metal at the muzzle.—Cylinder face (Steam Engin.), the flat part of a steam-cylinder on which a slide-valve moves.