face

Etymology

From Middle English face, from Old French face, from Late Latin facia, from Latin faciēs (“form, appearance”). Doublet of facies. Displaced native Middle English onlete (“face, countenance, appearance”), anleth (“face”), from Old English anwlite, andwlita, compare German Antlitz; Old English ansīen (“face”), Middle English neb (“face, nose”) (from Old English nebb), Middle English ler, leor, leer (“face, cheek, countenance”) (from Old English hlēor), and non-native Middle English vis (“face, appearance, look”) (from Old French vis) and Middle English chere (“face”) from Old French chere.

noun

1. (anatomy) The front part of the head of a human or other animal, featuring the eyes, nose, and mouth, and the surrounding area.
   That girl has a pretty face.
   The monkey pressed its face against the railings.
   ‘Children crawled over each other like little grey worms in the gutters,’ he said. ‘The only red things about them were their buttocks and they were raw. Their faces looked as if snails had slimed on them and their mothers were like great sick beasts whose byres had never been cleared.[…]’ 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 7, in The China Governess
2. (informal or slang) face
   1. One's facial expression.
      Why the sad face?
   2. (in expressions such as 'make a face') A distorted facial expression; an expression of displeasure, insult, etc.
      Children! Stop making faces at each other!
   3. (informal) The amount expressed on a bill, note, bond, etc., without any interest or discount; face value.
      MAKE Money-wholesale U.S. stamps—buy mint stamps below face. Be a dealer. Send $1.00 for two giant catalogs, refunded first order. Von Stein, Bernardsville, N.J. 1966 November, “Classified Opportunity Mart: Stamp Collecting [advertisement]”, in Popular Science Monthly, volume 189, number 5, page 229
      With certain exceptions for valuable stamps, dealers and many collectors are only willing to offer a percentage of face (80-90%). So instead, Lloyd took the sheets to work and posted a message asking if anyone wanted to buy sheets of old U.S. stamps at face. 1995-01-18, Ed Jackson, “Re: US sheets -- Sell for how much?”, in rec.collecting.stamps (Usenet)
      Talking about buying below face, I've bought a lot of rolled coins at below face. I'm not going to pay face just to drag them to the bank and deposit them. 2005-03-16, Cliff, “Re: This sounds like a newbie question....”, in rec.collecting.coins (Usenet)
   4. (professional wrestling, slang) A headlining wrestler with a persona embodying heroic or virtuous traits and who is regarded as a "good guy", especially one who is handsome and well-conditioned; a baby face.
      The fans cheered on the face as he made his comeback.
   5. (slang) The mouth.
      Shut your face!
      He's always stuffing his face with chips.
   6. (slang) Makeup; one's complete facial cosmetic application.
      I'll be out in a sec. Just let me put on my face.
3. (figurative) face
   1. Public image; outward appearance.
      Our chairman is the face of this company.
      He managed to show a bold face despite his embarrassment.
   2. Good reputation; standing, in the eyes of others; dignity; prestige. (See lose face, save face).
   3. Shameless confidence; boldness; effrontery.
      You've got some face coming round here after what you've done.
      a. 1694, John Tillotson, Preface to The Works This is the man that has the face to charge others with false citations.
   4. An aspect of the character or nature of someone or something.
      This is a face of her that we have not seen before.
      Poverty is the ugly face of capitalism.
   5. (figurative) Presence; sight; front.
      to fly in the face of danger
      to speak before the face of God
   6. (metonymically) A person; the self; (reflexively, objectifying) oneself.
      It was just the usual faces at the pub tonight.
      He better not show his face around here no more.
      Coordinate term: ass (see ass § Usage notes)
   7. (informal) A familiar or well-known person; a member of a particular scene, such as the music or fashion scene.
      He owned several local businesses and was a face around town.
      Vincent was the very best dancer in Bay Ridge—the ultimate Face. June 7, 1976, Nik Cohn, “Inside the Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night”, in New York Magazine
4. The frontal aspect of something.
   1. The numbered dial of a clock or watch; the clock face.
      The face of the cliff loomed above them.
      Then, the torpedo bombers arrived, but, unlike those that had dealt Hornet such a heavy blow, these split their attention between Enterprise, South Dakota, Portland, and the rather-bewildered destroyer USS Smith, which got a damaged Kate and its torpedo to the face for its trouble. 3 February 2021, Drachinifel, 17:16 from the start, in Guadalcanal Campaign - Santa Cruz (IJN 2 : 2 USN), archived from the original on 2022-12-04
5. The directed force of something.
   They turned the boat into the face of the storm.
6. Any surface, especially a front or outer one.
   Put a big sign on each face of the building that can be seen from the road.
   They climbed the north face of the mountain.
   She wanted to wipe him off the face of the earth.
   Captain Anderson: He has the secrets from the beacon. He has an army of geth at his command. And he won't stop until he's wiped humanity from the face of the galaxy! 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Normandy SR-1
7. (geometry) Any of the flat bounding surfaces of a polyhedron; more generally, any of the bounding pieces of a polytope of any dimension.
8. (cricket) The front surface of a bat.
9. (golf) The part of a golf club that hits the ball.
10. (heraldry) The head of a lion, shown face-on and cut off immediately behind the ears.
11. (card games) The side of the card that shows its value (as opposed to the back side, which looks the same on all cards of the deck).
12. (mechanics)The width of a pulley, or the length of a cog from end to end.
    a pulley or cog wheel of ten inches face
13. (mining)The exposed surface of the mineral deposit where it is being mined. Also the exposed end surface of a tunnel where digging may still be in progress.
14. (typography) A typeface.
15. A mode of regard, whether favourable or unfavourable; favour or anger.

verb

1. (transitive, of a person or animal) To position oneself or itself so as to have one's face closest to (something).
   Face the sun.
2. (transitive, of an object) To have its front closest to, or in the direction of (something else).
   Turn the chair so it faces the table.
3. (transitive) To cause (something) to turn or present a face or front, as in a particular direction.
   The croupier delicately faced her other two cards with the tip of his spatula. A four! She had lost! 1963, Ian Fleming, On Her Majesty's Secret Service
4. (transitive) To be presented or confronted with; to have in prospect.
   We are facing an uncertain future.
   Ambassador Udina: The other species are scared. They've never faced anything like this before and they don't know what to do. They want us to step forward. They believe in humanity because of you. Ambassador Udina: Your ruthless pursuit of Saren and the geth, your defiance of the Council -- that's what humans are capable of! That's how we can defeat the Reapers! Ambassador Udina: The others will follow us, Shepard. They know we're their only hope. We will have a human Council with a human Chairman. 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Citadel
5. (transitive) To deal with (a difficult situation or person); to accept (facts, reality, etc.) even when undesirable.
   I'm going to have to face this sooner or later.
   It is time the international community faced the reality: we have an unmanageable, unfair, distortionary global tax regime. It is a tax system that is pivotal in creating the increasing inequality that marks most advanced countries today […]. 2013-06-07, Joseph Stiglitz, “Globalisation is about taxes too”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 19
   According to this saga of intellectual-property misanthropy, these creatures [patent trolls] roam the business world, buying up patents and then using them to demand extravagant payouts from companies they accuse of infringing them. Often, their victims pay up rather than face the costs of a legal battle. 2013-06-08, “Obama goes troll-hunting”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 55
   Network Rail doesn't expect the line through Carmont to open for around a month, as it faces the mammoth task of recovering the two power cars and four coaches from ScotRail's wrecked train, repairing bridge 325, stabilising earthworks around the landslip, and replacing the track. August 26 2020, “Network News: Mid-September before line reopens, says Network Rail”, in Rail, page 10
6. (intransitive) To have the front in a certain direction.
   The seats in the carriage faced backwards.
7. (transitive) To have as an opponent.
   Real Madrid face Juventus in the quarter-finals.
   And a further boost to England's qualification prospects came after the final whistle when Wales recorded a 2-1 home win over group rivals Montenegro, who Capello's men face in their final qualifier. September 2, 2011, Phil McNulty, “Bulgaria 0-3 England”, in BBC
8. (intransitive, cricket) To be the batsman on strike.
   Willoughby comes in to bowl, and it's Hobson facing.
9. (transitive, obsolete) To confront impudently; to bully.
10. (transitive) To cover in front, for ornament, protection, etc.; to put a facing upon.
    a building faced with marble
11. (transitive) To line near the edge, especially with a different material.
    to face the front of a coat, or the bottom of a dress
12. To cover with better, or better appearing, material than the mass consists of, for purpose of deception, as the surface of a box of tea, a barrel of sugar, etc.
13. (engineering) To make the surface of (anything) flat or smooth; to dress the face of (a stone, a casting, etc.); especially, in turning, to shape or smooth the flat (transverse) surface of, as distinguished from the cylindrical (axial) surface.
14. (transitive, retail) To arrange the products in (a store) so that they are tidy and attractive.
    In my first job, I learned how to operate a till and to face the store to high standards.