Face v.

[f. prec. sb.]

  I.  To show a bold or opposing front.

  † 1.  intr. To show a bold face, look big; to brag, boast, swagger. Phrase, To face and brace: (see BRACE v.²). Obs.

c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 145. Facyn, or shewyn boolde face.

1509.  Barclay, Shyp of Folys, 22.

1601.  Yarington, Two Lamentable Tragedies, III. ii., in Bullen, Old English Plays, IV. 49.

  † b.  In primero. (Cf. BLUFF, BRAG.) Obs.

1594.  Carew, Huarte’s Exam. Wits, viii. 112. To play well at Primero, and to face and vie, and to hold and giue ouer when time serueth, and by coniectures to know his aduersaries game, and the skill of discarding, are all workes of the imagination.

  † c.  To show a false face, maintain a false appearance. Obs.

1570.  Ascham, Scholem., I. (Arb.), 54. To laughe, to lie, to flatter, to face: Foure waies in Court to win men grace.

1589.  Hay any Work, 39. Thou canst cog, face and lye, as fast as a dog can trot.

1591.  Shaks., 1 Hen. VI., V. iii. 142. Suffolke doth not flatter, face, or faine.

  † d.  To have a (specified) appearance. Obs.

1669.  N. Morton, New Eng. Mem., 106. The evil consequences thereof faced very sadly.

  † 2.  trans. a. To confront with assurance or impudence; to brave, to bully. b. To face a lie (upon), to tell a manifest untruth (to). Obs.

1465.  Paston Lett., No. 512, II. 205. My Lord of Suffolks men come … and face us and fray uppon us, this dayly.

1530.  Palsgr., 542/2. Yet he wolde face me with a lye.

1533.  More, Answ. Poysoned Bk., Wks., 1131/2. He maketh & faceth himselfe y^e lye vpon me.

c. 1540.  Heywood, Four P.P., in Hazl., Dodsley, I. 382.

1548.  Hall, Chron., 59 b. The straunger so faced the Englisheman, that he faynted in hys sute.

1625.  Bacon, Ess., Truth (Arb.), 501. For a Lie faces God, and shrinkes from Man.

1632.  Massinger, Emperor of the East, V. i. I have built no palaces to face the court.

  3.  With advbs. a. To face down, out: to put down (a person) with effrontery, to browbeat; to controvert (an objection, the truth) with coolness or impudence; to maintain (a statement) impudently. Also with sentence as obj.: to maintain or insist to a person’s face that [etc.]. b. To face out (a matter, etc.): to carry through by effronteny, brazen out. † To face it out with a card of ten: see 1 b and CARD sb.² 2 a. c. † To face out of: to exclude shamelessly from; also, to bully out of.

  a.  1530.  Palsgr., 542/2. I face one downe in a mater.

1533.  More, Answ. Poysoned Bk., Wks., 1131/2. He … scoffeth that I face out the trouth with lyes.

1580.  T. Lupton, Sivqila; too Good to be True, in Polimanteia (1861), p. xvii. And so faced out thy poore Father before our face.

1590.  Shaks., Com. Err., III. i. 6.

1667.  Dryden, Sir Martin, IV. i. I’ll not be faced down with a lie.

1787.  Wesley, Wks. (1872), IV. 401. To my great surprise, it [the mail-coach] was filled with other passengers; and the clerk faced me down, I had taken the coach for Sunday.

1860.  Froude, Hist. Eng., VI. 100. With Paget’s help she faced down these objections.

  b.  1543.  Bale, Yet a Course, 59. Now, face out your matter with a carde of tenne.

1553.  T. Wilson, Rhet. (1580), 202. The Roscians kinsfolke have boldly aduentured, & wil face out their doynges.

1579.  G. Harvey, Letter-bk. (Camden), 73. To sett a good surlye countenaunce on the matter and face it oute lustelye as sum other good fellowes doe.

a. 1619.  Fotherby, Atheom., I. xii. § 2 (1622), 125. To vse that artificiall obluctation, and facing out of the matter.

1630.  B. Jonson, New Inn, I. iii.

1876.  Trevelyan, Macaulay, I. i. 15. The Governor insisted that there would be no chance of saving the Company’s buildings unless the Company’s servants could make up their minds to remain at their posts and face it out.

  c.  c. 1530.  More, Answ. Frith, IV. Wks., 1132/2. Your false heresy, wherwith you would face our sauiour out of the blessed sacrament.

1601.  Shaks., Twel. N., IV. ii. 101. Mal. They haue heere propertied me: keepe mee in darkenesse, send Ministers to me, Asses, and doe all they can to face me out of my wits.

  4.  trans. To meet (danger, an enemy, or anything unpleasant) face to face; to meet in front, oppose with confidence or defiance.

1656.  B. Harris, trans. Parival’s The History of This Iron Age, I. vii. What great body of Nobility march so briskly on, to face that potent Emperour Osman.

a. 1680.  Butler, Rem. (1759), VIII. 7.

1708.  Addison, State of War, 25. We … cast about for a sufficient number of Troops to face them [the enemy] in the Field of Battle.

a. 1745.  Swift, A Preface to the B——P of S—-M’s Introduction, etc. Loth to see the fires kindled in Smithfield, as his Lordship, and, at least as ready to face them under a popish persecution.

1798.  Ferriar, Illustr. Sterne, v. 150. Many men would have shrunk from the obloquy which was now let loose against Sorlisi, but he faced the storm gallantly; and by exposing his life in some duels at the onset, obtained an exemption from any farther private insults.

1808.  J. Barlow, The Columbiad, IV. 143.

1842.  Macaulay, Lays of Ancient Rome, Horatius, xxvii.

1881.  Besant & Rice, Chapl. Fleet, III. 82. Strange that a man will face almost anything rather than possible ridicule.

  † b.  To appear before (a city) as an enemy.

c. 1645.  I. Tullie, Siege of Carlisle (1840), 1. They … p’ceeded … to face Carlisle with a Rascall rout in 1643.

1677.  Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 284. He immediately drew out a small party of Horse with which he faced the City Walls.

  5.  In weaker sense: To look in the face of; to meet face to face; to stand fronting, lit. and fig.

1632.  Lithgow, Trav., VII. 303. Facing the Iudge and pleading both our best.

1779.  Mad. D’Arblay, Diary, Nov. If I faced him he must see my merriment was not merely at his humour, but excited by his countenance, his language, his winking, and the very tone of his voice.

1841.  M. Elphinstone, The History of India, II. 275. He performed the journey of more than 450 miles with such celerity that, in spite of the season, he had assembled his troops, and faced his enemy at the head of 3000 men, on the ninth day from leaving Agra.

1853.  C. Kingsley, Hypatia, ix. 110. Might he but face the terrible enchantress, and rebuke her to her face!

1883.  Manch. Exam., 24 Nov. 5/2. The great problem which faces every inquirer into the causes of colliery explosions.

  6.  To look seriously and steadily at, not to shrink from.

1795.  T. Jefferson Letter to J. Madison, in Writ. (1859), IV. 116. My own quiet required that I should face it [the idea] and examine it.

1828.  Disraeli, Commentaries on the Life and Reign of Charles the First, II. v. 104 As a lawyer in the habit of facing a question but on one side, can rarely be a philosopher, who looks on both, we may easily conceive that both parties were equally convinced of the force of their own logic, and the validity of their own proofs.

1883.  S. S. Lloyd, in North Star, 25 Oct. 3/7. The need for external supplies of food … must be faced.

  II.  With reference to the direction of the face.

  7.  intr. a. Of persons and animals: To present the face in a certain direction; to look. lit. and fig.

1594.  H. Willobie,   Willobie his Avisa, Cant. xlvii.

1672.  Dryden, The Conquest of Granada, I. i.

1844.  H. H. Wilson, Brit. India, II. 266. The 1st of the 20th, with one company of the 24th, were posted on the larger eminence, facing east and south.

1863.  Kinglake, Crimea (1877), II. vii. 64. He steadfastly faced towards peace, and was always being carried towards war.

1882.  Hinsdale, Garfield & Educ., I. 117. He faced to law and politics, to science and to literature.

  b.  Of things: To be, or be situated, with the face or front in some specified direction; to front. Const. on, to.

1776.  Withering, Brit. Plants (1796), IV. 71. Saucers rust-coloured, large, facing downwards.

c. 1850.  Rudim. Navig. (Weale), 113. Dagger, a piece of timber that faces on to the poppets of the bilgeways.

1852.  Thackeray, Esmond, I. iii. The little chapel that faced eastwards.

1884.  Times (weekly ed.), 29 Aug., 14/2. The village faces full to the south.

1887.  Pall Mall G., 22 Aug., 11/2. The really picturesque side of the hall, facing on a lovely lake.

  8.  trans, a. Of persons and animals: To present the face or front towards; to look towards. b. Of a building, a country, and objects in general: To be situated opposite to, front towards.

  a.  1632.  Lithgow, Trav., VIII. 364. Facing the in-land wee marched for three dayss.

1750.  Johnson, Rambler, No. 12, 28 April, ¶ 15. Stand facing the light, that we may see you.

1774.  Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), III. 216. He continues to combat, retreating, and still facing the enemy till he dies.

1886.  Sheldon, trans. Flaubert’s Salammbô, 22. On the summit of the Acropolis in the cypress-groves the horses of Eschmoûn, just seeing the light, placed the hoofs of their forefeet upon the marble parapet, neighing shrilly as they faced the rising sun.

  b.  1670.  Milton, Hist. Eng., II., Wks. (1847), 494/2. He gained also with his forces that part of Britain which faces Ireland.

1705.  Addison, Italy (1767), 201. The Reverse has on it the Circus Maximus, and a View of the Side of the Palatine Mountain that faces it, on which are seen several Edifices, and among the rest the famous Temple of Apollo..

1746–7.  Hervey, Medit. (1818), 142. Yonder tree, which faces the south, has something too remarkable to pass without observation.

1860.  Tyndall, Glac., I. vii. 55. A series of vertical walls, rising apparently one above the other, face the observer.

1885.  Manch. Exam., 10 June, 8/7. The statue … faces the principal entrance to the museum.

  c.  Of letterpress, an engraving, etc.: To stand on the opposite page to.

1766.  Gent. Mag., XXXVI. Directions for placing the plates, The Emblematical Design … to face p. 8.

1887.  Pall Mall G., 19 Feb., 5/9. An increased price is paid for advertisements ‘facing matter.’ Ibid. (1890), 20 Nov., 2/2. A letter from Mr. Gladstone is good, and an article from him worth several columns ‘facing matter.’

Mod.  [On a plate inserted in a book] To face page 56.

  d.  To face (a person) with: to put before the face of; to confront with.

1583.  Golding, Calvin on Deut. xviii. 109. It was Gods wil to humble his … people by facing them with the temple of a cursed idoll.

  9.  intr. † a. in sense of face about (see b). Also refl. Obs.

1644.  Slingsby, Diary (1836), 112. Upon y^e top of y^e Hill they [the Scots] face and front towards y^e prince.

1666.  Pepys, Diary, 4 June. The Duke did fly; but all this day they have been fighting; therefore they did face again, to be sure.

1691.  Lond. Gaz., No. 2662/3. Upon their approach our men faced, and about 20 fired.

1824.  S. E. Ferrier, The Inheritance, vi. Having got to the top of the Pinnacle, he faced him round, and, in the very teeth of the enemy, began to point out what was and what was not to be seen.

  b.  Chiefly Mil. To turn the face in a stated direction (left, right, etc.). To face about, to the right about, round: to turn the face in the opposite direction. As word of command, Right or left about face!

1634.  Massinger, Very Woman, III. i. Let fall your cloak, on one shoulder—face to your left hand.

1647.  N. Bacon, Discourse of the Laws & Government of England, I. lxiv. (1682), 135. He faces about therefore, and having spoken faire to his people, for Scotland he goes.

a. 1671.  Ld. Fairfax, Mem. (1699), 51. He that commanded these men, being in the rear, made them face about, and march again into the Town.

1710.  Lond. Gaz., No. 4675/1. He commanded them to face to the Left, in order to flank the Enemy.

1711.  Steele, The Spectator, No. 109, 5 July, ¶ 1. The Knight faced towards one of the Pictures. Ibid. (1713), The Englishman No. 55, 9 Feb., 353. This elevated Machine … moved forward with great Order through … Cornhil: whence it faced about.

1753.  Hanway, Trav. (1762), II. IV. iv. 115. They immediately conjectured that the place had changed masters, and faced about.

1787.  Columbian Mag., I. 47. To the right about face! Forward march! Halt, and face to the Front!

1820.  Keats, Cap & Bells, xxxvi. 1. Then facing right about, he saw the Page.

1823.  Byron, Juan, VIII. xxviii.

1826.  Scott, Woodst., i. The minister, thus intercepted in his duty, faced round upon the party who had seized him.

1841.  Lever, C. O’Malley, lxxxviii. Left face—wheel—quick march!

1844.  Regul. & Ord. Army, 261. On which the Captain is to face inwards, and the Lieutenant and Ensign face to the right, and march in quick time to the head of the Grenadiers.

1859.  F. A. Griffiths, The Artillerist’s Manual (ed. 8), 19. Right or left about three-quarters face.

1863.  Kinglake, Crimea (1877), III. i. 215. These men had faced about to the front, and were firing in the direction of the great column of the Vladimir corps then halted within the redoubt.

  fig.  1645.  G. Gillespie, Liberty of Conscience, 28. In this Sir you have faced about, sure you are not As you were.

1684.  Bunyan, Pilg., II., Introduction, 217.

  10.  trans. † a. To attract or direct the face or looks of. b. Mil. To cause (soldiers) to face, or present the front.

1630.  Lord Banians & Perses, 72. Certaine mimicall gestures, so as may most face the people to gaze upon them.

1667.  Waterhouse, Fire Lond., 181. The Judgments of God face us to humilitie.

1859.  F. A. Griffiths, The Artillerist’s Manual (ed. 8), 30. The company of formation will be faced, and countermarched, so as to lead to its new pivot. Ibid., 31. The remaining companies first being faced to the right about.

  11.  a. To turn face upwards, expose the face of (a playing card).

1674.  Cotton, Complete Gamester, in Singer, Hist. Cards, 344. He clasps these cards faced at the bottom.

1721.  Mrs. Centlivre, Basset-Table, IV. Fac’t again;—what’s the meaning of this ill luck to-night?

1742.  Hoyle, Whist, 10. If a Card is faced in the Pack, they must deal again, except it is the last Card.

1878.  H. H. Gibbs, Ombre (2 ed.), 19. The remaining thirteen cards he places before him near the middle of the table, taking care not to face or show any of them. They are called the Stock.

  b.  Post-office. To turn (letters) with their faces in one direction.

1850.  The Quarterly Review, CLXXI. June, 41. The object, however, of their manipulations is merely to ‘face’ the stamped and paid letters all the same way.

1889.  Pall Mall G., 15 Oct., 7/1. All the letters have been faced, sorted, and stamped.

  III.  To put a face upon.

  12.  To cover a certain breadth of (a garment) with another material; to trim, turn up. In pass. said of the wearer. Also, To face about, down.

1561.  in Vicary’s Anat. (1888), App. vi. 189. My gowne of browne blue lyned and faced with black budge.

1592.  Greene, Art Conny-catch., II. 2. The Priest was facst afore with Veluet.

1607.  Topsell, Four-f. Beasts (1673), 446. They … face about the collars of men and womens garments.

1679.  Lond. Gaz., No. 1378/4. A black hair Camlet Gown … faced down before, and on the Cape with Velvet.

1759.  Compl. Lett.-writer (ed. 6), 229. Blue cloth, trimmed and faced with white.

1818.  Scott, Hrt. Midl., xxi. The five Lords of Justiciary, in their long robes of scarlet faced with white.

1855.  W. Sargent, Braddock’s Expedition, 291. The uniform of the 44th was red faced with yellow.

  absol.  c. 1570.  Thynne, The Debate between Pride and Lowliness (1841), 20.

  † b.  transf. & fig. To trim, adorn, deck, furnish.

1565.  Jewel, Def. Apol. (1611), 241. Would ye rather, for the better facing and colouring of your Doctrin, we should strike out this Forged Quodammodo.

1596.  Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., V. i. 74.

1630.  B. Jonson, New Inn, I. i., Wks. (Rtldg.), 410/1.

1645.  Milton, Colasterion, Wks. (1847), 221. I saw the stuff, though very coarse and thraedbare, garnished and trimly faced with the commendations of a licenser.

1685.  Dryden, Albion & Alb., III. i.

  13.  To cover the surface either wholly or partially with some specified material.

1670.  Cotton, Espernon, II. VIII. 349. The earth being mouldred down in many places, by reason the Terrass was not yet fac’d with stone.

1677.  Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 279. With whose heads and those of his own whom the Persians had slain the savage Turk faced a great Bulkwark.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., I. 258.

1715.  Desaguliers, Fires Impr., 112. If you face the Sides of the Chimney with thin Copper.

1803.  Philosophical Transactions, XCIII. 85. The same bar was melted again, and was cast in sand, faced in the usual manner by charcoal dust; it then proved slightly brittle.

1856.  Robert Smith, Bringing Moorland into Cultivation, in Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, XVII. II. 363. The more modern fence, both for boundaries and substantial subdivisions, is faced with stones.

  14.  To dress or smooth the face or surface of. Also, To face down.

1848.  Mill, Pol. Econ., I. 152. One lathe … is kept for facing surfaces.

1873.  H. B. Tristram, The Land of Moab, vi. 111. But we found many blocks of basalt, which must have been brought from Shihan, several miles off, built into the walls and arches, some of them finely faced.

1879.  Cassell’s Techn. Educ., IV. 221/2. The body is carefully faced down till a fine even surface is produced.

  15.  To coat (tea) with some coloring substance. Also, To face up.

1850.  Household Words, II. 277. The tea-leaf … is ‘faced’ by the French chalk, to give it the pearly appearance so much liked.

1869.  E. A. Parkes, A Manual of Practical Hygiene (ed. 3), 277. The green tea is either natural or coloured (faced) with indigo, Prussian blue, clay, carbonate and acetate of copper, curcuma, gypsum, and chalk.

1888.  Encycl. Brit., XXIII. 101/1. On the European side, exhausted leaves were again dried, impregnated with catechu and gum, and faced up to do duty as fresh tea.

  † IV.  16. To deface, disfigure, spoil in appearance. [? Short for DEFACE.] Obs.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 9129.