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A visard (also spelled vizard) is an oval mask of black velvet which was worn by travelling women in the 16th century to protect their skin from sunburn. The fashion of the period for wealthy women was to keep their skin pale, because a tan suggested that the bearer worked outside and was hence poor.
So to make sure they didn’t get burned, some 16th-century ladies wore face masks called visards (or vizards) that covered their delicate visages. Unfortunately, the masks also made it so they ...
Mar 6, 2021 · Vizards, also known as masks, were worn by gentlewomen in the sixteenth through the seventeenth and possibly into the eighteenth centuries. They could also sometimes be worn by men, as in a quote from a translation of Stefano Guazzo’s work, “There are certaine glorious fellowes, who at shrovetide goe with Maskes on their face”, (1) and ...
vizard. (n.) "mask," 1550s, altered form of vysar, viser (see visor ), by influence of words in -ard. Figurative use from 1570s; common 17c. Also applied to the person with the masks, and used as a verb meaning "to conceal."
The earliest known use of the verb vizard is in the early 1600s. OED's earliest evidence for vizard is from 1628, in the writing of William Prynne, pamphleteer and lawyer. It is also recorded as a noun from the mid 1500s.
The earliest known use of the word vizard is in the mid 1500s. OED's earliest evidence for vizard is from before 1555, in the writing of John Philpot, clergyman and protestant martyr. vizard is a variant or alteration of another lexical item.
1. : a mask for disguise or protection. 2. : disguise, guise. Synonyms. mask. See all Synonyms & Antonyms in Thesaurus. Examples of vizard in a Sentence. in those days it was not uncommon for street prostitutes to wear vizards. Word History. Etymology. alteration of Middle English viser mask, visor. First Known Use.
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