Greasepaint is the heavy make-up worn by stage performers. Put on the greasepaint, the smell of greasepaint, wipe off the greasepaint.
It was invented because gaslight and then limelight washed a face out entirely, so features had to be painted back on. The smell of the greasepaint and the roar of the crowd is the standing phrase for the whole business of theatre.
1noungreasepaintThe heavy make-up worn by stage performers.
“The clown sat in his dressing room, wiping off the thick white greasepaint.”
greasepaint is a make-up.
Grease plus paint, from the nineteenth-century theatre.
From grease + paint.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Circus & Fairground