Other forms: masques
A masque is a courtly entertainment of music and disguise. Perform a masque, a Jacobean masque, the masque ended.
It flourished in the English court in the early seventeenth century, with Ben Jonson writing and Inigo Jones designing, and the courtiers themselves danced in it. It was spectacle rather than drama and cost enormous sums. Note that masque and mask are the same word.
1nounmasqueA courtly entertainment of music and disguise.
“At the royal court, the queen and her ladies performed in a masque with music and dancing.”
masque is an entertainment.
French masque comes from Italian maschera, a mask, of uncertain origin. Mask and mascara come from the same covering.
French
masque
English, today
masque
French masque. a doublet of mask and mesh.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA