Now arch. [f. VIZARD sb. Cf. visor-mask VISOR sb. 6 b.]
1. A mask worn to conceal or disguise the face; a domino; VIZARD 1.
1667. Dryden & Dk. Newcastle, Sir Martin Mar-all, V. iii. Fetch me down two Indian-gowns and Vizard-masks.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. 13/1. The Visard Mask … covers the whole face,… being only held in the Teeth by means of a round bead.
1693. Wood, Life (O.H.S.), III. 438. 3 hackney coaches rob’d at Wheatley bridge by 4 Oxford scholars (as ’tis said) with vizard maskes.
1904. Lond. Gaz., No. 3985/1. That no Woman be allowed … to wear a Vizard-Mask in either of the Theatres.
1760. Ann. Reg., Chron., 73/2. A man habited like a sailor with a vizard mask on.
2. A woman who wears such a mask; a prostitute. (Cf. VIZARD sb. 5.)
1670. Dryden, 2nd Pt. Conq. Granada, Prol. 25. As those Vizard Masks maintain that Fashion, To soothe and tickle sweet Imagination.
1672. Wycherley, Love in Wood, V. ii. There are as grave men as your worship … that adjourn their cares and businesses, to come and unbend themselves at night here with a little vizard-mask.
1710. Steele, Tatler, No. 193, ¶ 3. His dexterous Insinuations, which prevailed upon a few deluded Women, especially the Vizard Masks, to believe that the Stage was in danger.
1740. Cibber, Apol. (1756), II. 143. The play-houses are so extremely pestered with Vizard-masks and their trade.
1823. Scott, Peveril, xxviii. Billets-doux, my lord…. This left at the porter’s-lodge by a vizard mask.]
