MASQUERADE

masquerade, charade

(noun) making a false outward show; “a beggar’s masquerade of wealth”

masquerade, masquerade party, masque, mask

(noun) a party of guests wearing costumes and masks

masquerade

(verb) pretend to be someone or something that you are not; “he is masquerading as an expert on the internet”; “This silly novel is masquerading as a serious historical treaty”

masquerade

(verb) take part in a masquerade

Source: WordNet® 3.1

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Etymology

Noun

masquerade (plural masquerades) (also, attributively)

An assembly or party of people wearing (usually elaborate or fanciful) masks and costumes, and amusing themselves with dancing, conversation, or other diversions.

Synonym: masque (obsolete)

The act of wearing a mask or dressing up in a costume for, or as if for, a masquerade ball.

(figuratively) An act of living under false pretenses; a concealment of something by a false or unreal show; a disguise, a pretence; also, a pretentious display.

(figuratively) An assembly of varied, often fanciful, things.

(fandom) A cosplay event at which costumed attendees perform skits.

(obsolete) A dramatic performance by actors in masks; a mask or masque.

(obsolete, rare) A Spanish entertainment or military exercise in which squadrons of horses charge at each other, the riders fighting with bucklers and canes.

Verb

masquerade (third-person singular simple present masquerades, present participle masquerading, simple past and past participle masqueraded)

(intransitive) To take part in a masquerade; to assemble in masks and costumes; (loosely) to wear a disguise.

(intransitive, figuratively) To pass off as a different person or a person with qualities that one does not possess; also, to make a pretentious show of being what one is not.

(transitive, rare) To conceal (someone) with, or as if with, a mask; to disguise.

Source: Wiktionary

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Mas`quer*ade", n. Etym: [F. mascarade, fr. Sp. mascarada, or It. mascherata. See Mask.]

1. An assembly of persons wearing masks, and amusing themselves with dancing, conversation, or other diversions. In courtly balls and midnight masquerades. Pope.

2. A dramatic performance by actors in masks; a mask. See 1st Mask, 4. [Obs.]

3. Acting or living under false pretenses; concealment of something by a false or unreal show; pretentious show; disguise. That masquerade of misrepresentation which invariably accompanied the political eloquence of Rome. De Quincey.

4. A Spanish diversion on horseback.

Mas`quer*ade", v. i. [imp. & p. p. Masqueraded; p. pr. & vb. n. Masquerading.]

1. To assemble in masks; to take part in a masquerade.

2. To frolic or disport in disquise; to make a pretentious show of being what one is not. A freak took an ass in the head, and he goes into the woods, masquerading up and down in a lion's skin. L'Estrange.

Mas`quer*ade", v. t.

Definition: To conceal with masks; to disguise. "To masquerade vice." Killingbeck.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

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