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mascaron - n., a grotesque head or face, either human or chimeric, used as an architectural decoration.
To adorn buildings, waterspouts of fountains, doorknockers, and the like. Originally for frightening away evil spirits. Since c. 1650, from French, from Italian mascherone, augentative of maschera, mask, disguise, from a conjectural pre-Latin word *maskara, an extended form of *mask, which seems to have had the sense of "black", as in blacking the face in disguise.
---L.
To adorn buildings, waterspouts of fountains, doorknockers, and the like. Originally for frightening away evil spirits. Since c. 1650, from French, from Italian mascherone, augentative of maschera, mask, disguise, from a conjectural pre-Latin word *maskara, an extended form of *mask, which seems to have had the sense of "black", as in blacking the face in disguise.
---L.
