[a. F. facial, ad. med.L. faciāl-is of the face, f. faciēs FACE.]
† 1. Theol. In Facial sight, vision = L. visio facialis: Face to face, immediate, open. Obs.
1609. T. Bell, A Christian Dialogue betweene Theophilus and Remigius, 16. The cleare and faciall vision of God.
1633. Henry Montagu, Earl of Manchester, Manchester al Mondo (1636), 194. Saint Steven … had a faciall sight of his Saviour.
a. 1711. Ken, Hymnarium, Poetical Wks. 1721, II. 17, ‘Incomprehensibility.’
| You in that Beatifick Height, | |
| Had of Triunal God a facial Sight. |
2. Of or pertaining to the face or visage; frequent in Anat., as in facial artery, nerve, etc.
1818. Hooper, Med. Dict., Facial nerve.
1841. Catlin, N. Amer. Ind. (1844), II. lviii. 226. There is a general and striking character in the facial outline of the North American Indians, which is bold and free, and would seem at once to stamp them as distinct from natives of other parts of the world.
1842. E. Wilson, Anat. Vade M., 273. The Facial artery arises a little above the great cornu of the os hyoides.
1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, I. 213. A man of splendid symmetrical figure and great facial advantages.
1865. E. B. Tylor, Researches into the Early History of Mankind, iv. 68. Biting her lips with an upward contraction of the facial muscles when roguishly listening at the account of some ludicrous mishap.
1854. J. G. Wood, The Illustrated Natural History, Birds, 104. The Virginian Eared Owl…. The facial disc is brown, edged with black.
b. Palæont. Facial suture (see quot. 1884).
1872. Nicholson, Palæont., 167. There are no eyes, and the facial suture is wanting.
1884. Syd. Soc. Lex., Facial suture, the line of division between the glabella and the free cheek on each side in a Trilobite.
c. Facial angle: the angle formed by two lines, one horizontal from the nostrils to the ear, the other (called the facial line) more or less vertical from the nostrils to the forehead.
The facial angle above described is that of Camper; various other ‘facial angles’ have been subsequently proposed, and to some extent adopted in craniometry.
1822. W. Lawrence, The Natural History of Man, iv. The ancients … were aware that an elevated facial line … indicated a noble and generous nature. Hence they have extended the facial angle to 90° in the representation of legislators, sages poets, and other, on whom they wished to bestow the most august character.
1845. Darwin, Voy. Nat., xvii. (1852), 388. From their low facial angle they [some Lizards] have a singularly stupid appearance.
1866. Livingstone, Last Jrnls. (1873), I. vi. 140. Many have quite the Grecian facial angle.
3. Of or belonging to the visible pan or surface of anything. Facial value = face-value.
1842. E. Wilson, Anat. Vade M., 33. The external or facial surface, forms the anterior part of the bone.
1862. Rawlinson, Anc. Mon. I. vi. 370. As if to compensate for this monotony in its [the façade’s] facial line, it was pierced by no fewer than five doorways, all of considerable width, and two of them garnished with bulls, namely, the second and the fourth.
1870. Hooker, Stud. Flora, 328. Seeds 3-gonour, deeply pitted and keeled on the back, with 2 facial furrows.
1884. Pall Mall G., 28 June, 5. The coupons can be purchased under their facial value.
† 4. quasi-sb. = facial angle. Obs.
c. 1817. Fuseli, Lect. Art, x. (1848), 5. 6. Camper … appears to have ascertained, not only the difference of the faceal [sic] in animals, but that which discriminates nations.
Hence Facially adv. † a. Face to face. b. With reference to the face.
a. 1641. [D. Baker] The Holy Practises of a Devine Love (1657), 6. In this life only enigmaticallie, or accordinge to the light of fayth & feelings of Loue, in the future facially, & really.
1864. Daily Tel., 1 Aug. His Excellency is not facially remote from the portraits of Talleyrand.
