Definition of "masque"

masque

/mæsk/

noun
plural masques
1. (historical, in 16th- and 17th-century England and Europe) A dramatic performance, often performed at court as a royal entertainment, consisting of dancing, dialogue, pantomime and song.
  Quotations
  "I think," said Anne to Madame de Mercœur, "we must obtain your protégée's services for our intended masque; however, I shall leave that to you young people to settle," turning to Louis as she spoke.
  1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIX, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), page 221
2. Words and music written for a masque.
  Quotations
  Over six sections – a prologue, a life-story, a dream-quest, a dirge, a masque and an epilogue – they meditate on their lives, their hopes, their losses, and on the human condition.
  2010 April 9, Glyn Maxwell, “WH Auden's ‘The Age of Anxiety’”, in The Guardian‎
3. A masquerade.
4. Archaic form of mask.
5. A facial mask.
verb
third-person singular simple present masques, present participle masquing, simple past and past participle masqued
1. Archaic form of mask.
  Quotations
  It is even masqued by that sort of good-humoured air that at heart he resents his impressment.
  1924, Herman Melville, chapter 16, in Billy Budd‎, London: Constable & Co.