face 
If any planet be in his decanate, or face, he has the least 
possible essential dignity ; but being in his own decanate 
or face, he cannot then be called peregrine. A planet be- 
ing in his decanate or face describes a man ready t h, 
turned out of doors, having much to do to maintain liim- 
self in credit and reputation ; and in genealogies it repre- 
sents a family at the last gasp, even as good as quite de- 
cayed, hardly able to support itself. 
Lilly, Astrology (ed. Zadkiel). 
18. The words of a written paper, especially 
of a commercial or legal paper, as a note or 
judgment, in their apparent or obvious mean- 
ing; specifically (a) the express terms; (6) 
the principal sum due, exclusive of interest ac- 
crued by law: as, the face of a draft. 19. In 
arch., same as band 2 , 2 (e). 20. In bookbind- 
ing, the front edge or fore edge of a book. 
After the face [of a book] has been ploughed, the back 
springs back into its rounded form. Encijc. Brit., IV. 43. 
Ambulacralface. Seeambulacml. Composition face. 
See composition. Face of a bastion. See bastion. Face 
Of a cannon, face Of a piece, the terminating plane at 
the muzzle of a piece of ordnance, perpendicular to the 
axis of the bore. Face of a square, one of the sides of 
a battalion or regiment when formed in square. Farrow, 
Mil. Eucyc. Face on, in coal-mini tig, parallel with the 
cleat, or principal system of joint-planes : said of a mode 
of working the coal. It is the opposite of end on (which 
see, under end). Faces aboutt, turn your faces around : 
a military word of command, equivalent to about face. 
Double your flies ; as you were ; face g about. 
Beau, and Fl., Knight of Burning Pestle, v. 
Good captain, faces about, to some other discourse. 
B. Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, iii. 1. 
Face to face, in a confronting attitude or position; in 
actual presence or propinquity : as, to be/oe to face with 
impending disaster. 
It is not the manner of the Romans to deliver any man 
to die, before that he which is accused have the accusers 
.face to face. Acts xxv. 16. 
Now we see through a glass, darkly ; but then face to 
face. 1 Cor. xiii. 12. 
I had spoken face to face with the veritable author of 
a printed book. Hawthorne, Twice-Told Tales, II. 
They [right and wrong] are the two principles that have 
stood face to face from the beginning of time, and will 
ever continue to struggle. 
Lincoln, The Century, XXXIV. 390. 
Fit of the face. See fit i . Hlppocratlc face. See Bi p- 
pocratic.On the face Of It, on the evidence of the thing 
itself ; by its own showing : as, the paper is a forgery on 
the face of it; the story is false on the face of it. To 
change facet. See change. To fly In the face of. See 
fly 1 . To have two faces in or under one hoodt, to be 
guilty of duplicity. 
He that hathe too faces yn on hode 
May be enrolled yn thys fraternyte (of fools]. 
Booke of Precedence (E. E. T. S., extra ser.), i. 80. 
To make a face, to change or distort the countenance, 
as in disapproval, mockery, or disgust; put on an unnatu- 
ral look. 
Shame iUelf ! 
Why do you make such facet ! 
Shak., Macbeth, iii. 4. 
To run one's face, to obtain credit or favor without secu- 
rity or recommendation, or by sheer boldness or audacity. 
[Slang, U. S.] = Syn. Face, Visage, Countenance. Face is 
the general word, representing the permanent combination 
of features, apart from any changes produced by thought 
and feeling. Countenance is the face as affected by the 
state of the mind ; hence such figurative uses of the word 
as to give countenance to an idea or undertaking. Visage 
is essentially the same as countenance, but especially re- 
gards the face as seen. Countenance and visage are some- 
times applied to the faces of brutes, but are ordinarily held 
as too high for such use, expressing too much of intellect 
or character. 
Dusk /aces with white silken turbans wreathed. 
Milton, P. &., iv. 76. 
On his bold visage middle age 
Had slightly pressed its signet sage. 
Scoff, L. of the L., L 21. 
Woe is written on thy visage, 
Aytoun, Edinboro after Flodden. 
I hold every man a debtor to his profession from the 
which . . . men of course do seek to receive countenance 
and profit. Bacon, Maxims of the Law, Pref. 
O'er his countenance 
No shadow past. Tennyson, Enoch Arden. 
face 1 (fas), . ; pret. and pp. faced, ppr. facing. 
[<ME./ace; </oce!, .] I. trans. 1. To turn 
the face or front full toward ; confront ; be or 
stand in front of or opposite to, literally or fig- 
uratively: as, to face an audience; the house 
faces the sea; we are facing important events. 
They had now faced, as they saw, without power any 
more to evade it, a fiery trial. 
De Quincey, Secret Societies, ii. 
Double temples are by no means uncommon in India, 
but the two sanctuaries usually face each other, and have 
the porch between them. 
J. Fergusson, Hist. Indian Arch., p. 399. 
Two problems face the combined intelligence of Eng- 
land for solution at the present time. 
Fortnightly Rev., XL. 39. 
Hence 2. To confront boldly ; make a stand 
against; oppose or defy: as, to face the con- 
sequences. 
2110 
And how can man die better 
Than facing fearful odds, 
For the ashes of his fathers 
And the temples of his gods? 
Macaulay, Horatius, st. 27. 
3. To cover or partly cover with something in 
front. 
Some round-grown thing, a jug 
Faced with a beard. B. Jomon, New Inn, i. 1. 
Specifically (a) Of buildings: as, a house faced with 
marble. 
The pyramid was faced by adding courses of long blocks 
on each layer of the steps. 
Chambers, Lib. Univ. Knowledge, XII. 307. 
(6) In tailoring, dressmaking, etc., to cover some part of 
(a garment), as lappets or the hem, with another mate- 
rial. See revers and facing. 
Grumio. Thou hast faced many things. 
Tailor. I have. Shak., T. of the S., iv. 3. 
4. To smooth or dress the face of, as a stone, 
etc. 5. To turn the face of upward; expose 
the face of in dealing : said of a playing-card. 
To face down, to abash by fixedness of gaze ; cow by 
stern looks ; hence, to withstand or put down by audacity 
or effrontery. 
Here's a villain that would face me down. 
Shak., C. of E., iii. 1. 
Because he walk'd against his Will ; 
He/ac'd Men down, that he stood still. 
Prior, Alma, iii. 
To face it with a card of tent, (a) In the old game of 
?rimero, to stand boldly upon a card; bluff. Hence (b) 
o face it out by sheer audacity. 
A vengeance on your crafty wither'd hide ! 
Yet I have fac'd it with a card of ten. 
Shak.,T. of the S., U. 1. 
To face out. () To put or force (a person) down or out 
by assuming a bold front ; defeat by mere effrontery or 
audacity. 
I haue here . . . broughte you for the trewe fayth of the 
Catholike churche, agaynst your false heresy, wherewith 
you would face our Sauiour "" ' of the blessed sacrament : 
I haue brought agaynst you, to your face, Saint Bede and 
Theophylacius. Sir T. More, Works, p. 1132. 
(6) To persist in maintaining (an assertion which is not 
true); maintain unblushingly and shamelessly; brave, as 
a charge, with effrontery : as, she faced it out. 
A mad-cap ruffian, and a swearing Jack, 
That thinks with oaths to face the matter out. 
Shak.,1. of the 8., U. 1. 
To face tea, to improve its superficial appearance by the 
addition of coloring matter in the process of firing. See 
facing, 3. To face the music, to meet the emergency 
boldly ; accept the situation at ita worst. [Slang, U. S.] 
Although such reverses [financial panic] would seem to 
fall with crushing weight upon someof our most substantial 
citizens, a strong determination to face the music is every- 
where manifested. Worcester (Mass.) Spy, Sept. 22, 1857. 
Now that those whom he recognized as his enemies had 
succeeded in putting him in this position, he determined 
to face the music, and not allow them to gain any advan- 
tage if he could help it. Tourgee, Fool's Errand, p. 52. 
II. intrans. If. To appear. 
The evil consequences thereof faced very sadly. 
A'. Morton, New England's Memorial, p. 198. 
2*. To carry a false appearance ; play the 
hypocrite. 
To laughe, to lie, to flatter, to face ; 
Foure waies in Court to win men grace. 
Ascham, The Scholemaster, p. 54. 
For there thou needs must learne to laugh, to lie, 
To/oee, to forge, to seoffe, to companie. 
Spenser, Mother Hub. Tale, 1. 500. 
Suffolk doth not flatter, face, or feign. 
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., v. 3. 
3. To brag; rail; vaunt; boast. Halliwell. [Old 
and prov. Eng.] 
All the day long is he facing and croking. 
Udall, Roister Doister, 1. 1. 
4. To turn the face; especially, in milit. tac- 
tics, to turn on the heel to the right or left, or 
to a reverse position, as at the word of com- 
mand, right face, left face, or right about face. 
When he [the pawn] has/oced, either right or left, he 
only commands the two diagonals towards which he faces 
[in four-handed chess]. Verney, Chess Eccentricities, p. 24. 
To face about (milit.), to turn on the heel so as to face 
in the opposite direction. 
Face about, man ! A soldier, and afraid of the enemy ! 
Dryden. 
Our Captain bid us then face about. 
Reading Skirmish (Child's Ballads, VII. 246). 
face 2 (fas), v. t. [ME. facen, by apheresis from 
defacen: see deface.~\ If. To deface. 
Polexena . . . 
All /acid hir face with hir fell teris 
That was red as the roses. 
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 9128. 
2. To damage or spoil the surface of, as by 
wear or accident. 
Cards having been once ground down need but little 
grinding at any one time afterwards, unless they get 
jammed, faced, ... or something unusual happens to 
them. F. Wilson, Cotton Carder's Companion, p. 47. 
facer 
face 3 t, " An obsolete form offesse. 
faceable (fa'sa-bl), a. That may be faced or 
approached. Christian Union, Aug. 11, 1887. 
face-ache (fas'ak), . Neuralgia in the nerves 
of the face ; tic douloureux. 
face-ague (fas'a"gu), n. Same as face-ache. 
face-card (fas'kard), n. A playing-card on 
which there is a face; the king, queen, or 
knave of any suit of cards; a court-card, 
face-cloth (fas'kloth), n. 1. A cloth laid over 
the face of a corpse. 
The Face-Cloth too is of great Antiquity. Mr. Strutt 
tells us, that after the closing the Eyes, <kc., a Linen Cloth 
was put over the Face of the Deceased. 
Bourne s Pop. Antiq. (1777), p. 23, note. 
Standing by the coffin, with wild impatience, she pushed 
aside theface-cloth. Seward, Letters, i. 249. 
Stole a maiden from hep place, 
Lightly to the warrior stept, 
Took the face-clot h from his face. 
Tennyson, Princess, vi. (song). 
2. A cloth for washing the face ; a wash-cloth. 
face-cover (fas'kuv'er), n. In fort., an inte- 
rior glacis, placed in the ditch, with its crest 
high enough to mask the scarp-wall from the 
plunging fire of distant batteries : intended to 
prevent besiegers from effecting a practicable 
breach in the wall unless they succeed in es- 
tablishing their batteries on this interior glacis. 
faced (fast), p. a. 1. Having a face; marked 
with a face, as a court-card. 2. Appearing as 
to the face ; having a facial expression of a cer- 
tain kind; looking. [Rare.] 
A company of rural fellows, fac'd 
, Like lovers of your laws. 
Ford, Sun's Darling, ii. 
3. Having the upper or outer surface dressed 
or smoothed : as, a, faced stone. 4. Having the 
front, or some part of the front, covered with 
other material (see /ace 1 , v. t., 3): said of gar- 
ments, as a man's coat, a woman's gown, etc., 
and often used compounded with the name of 
the material: as, silk-/aeed; satin-/ace<f Faced 
card, in card-playing, a card that has been shown by a 
player face up during the deal or out of turn. 
faced-lined (fast'lind), a. In her., having the 
lining exposed at the fold or opening, as a man- 
tle: an epithet used only when the tincture of 
the lining is to be specified : as, a mantle/acerf- 
lined gules. 
face-flatterer (fas' flat *er-6r), . One who 
compliments another grossly and to his face. 
[Rare.] 
Nine tithes of times 
Face-flatterer and back-biter are the same. 
Tennyson, Merlin and Vivien. 
face-guard (fas'gard), . 1. A covering or 
mask to protect the face and eyes from acci- 
dents, as in various chemical and mechanical 
processes, in fencing, etc. 2. Any fixed pro- 
jection from the front of a helmet, serving to 
protect the face, as the nasal. 
face-hammer (fas'ham"r), . 1. A hammer 
having a flat face, as distinguished from one 
having both ends pointed or edged. See cut 
under hammer. 2. A hammer with a cutting 
and a blunt end, used in preparing stone for 
finer tool-work. 
face-lathe (fas'lara), n. 1. A lathe for turn- 
ing face-work, such as bosses and core-prints. 
2. A lathe with a large face-plate and a slide- 
rest adjustable in front on its own shears. It 
is generally transverse. E. H. Knight. 
face-mold (fas'mold), n. The name given by 
workmen to the pattern for marking the plank 
or board out of which ornamental hand-railings 
for stairs or other works are to be cut. 
face-painter (fas'pan"ter), w. A painter of por- 
traits ; one who paints the likeness of the face. 
[Rare.] 
face-painting (fas'pan"ting), . 1. The act or 
art of painting faces or portraits ; the art of rep- 
resenting faces in painting. [Rare.] 
Giorgione, the cotemporary of Titian, excelled in por- 
traits or face-painting. 
Dryden, tr. of Dufresnoy's Art of Painting. 
2. The act of applying rouge or other coloring 
matter to the face. 
face-plan (fas'plan), n. A plan or drawing of 
the principal or front elevation of a building. 
face-plate (fas'plat), . 1. A true-plate used 
to test a plane surface. 2. A plate used as a 
cover or shield for any object subject to shock 
or abrasion. 3. The disk attached to the re- 
volving spindle of a lathe to which the piece to 
be turned is often fastened. 
facer (fa'ser), H. It. One who faces; one who 
puts on a bold face. 
