online medical dictionary | definition of grimace

A distortion of the countenance, whether habitual, from affectation, or momentary aad occasional, to express some feeling, as contempt, disapprobation, complacency, etc.; a smirk; a made-up face. "Moving his face into such a hideons grimace, that every feature of it appeared under a different distortion." (Addison)

"Half the French words used affectedly by Melantha in Dryden's "Marriage a-la-Mode," as innovations in our language, are now in common usa: chagrin, doubleentendre, eclaircissement, embarras, equivoque, foible, grimace, naivete, ridicule. All these words, which she learns by heart to use occasionally, are now in common use."

Origin: F, prob. Of Teutonic origin; cf. AS. Grma mask, specter, Ical. Grma mask, hood, perh. Akin to E. Grin.

(01 Mar 1998)