Disguise

views updated Jun 11 2018

189. Disguise

  1. Abigail enters nunnery as convert to retrieve money. [Br. Lit.: The Jew of Malta ]
  2. Achilles disguised as a woman to avoid conscription. [Gk. Legend: Brewer Handbook, 642 (Lycomedes)]
  3. Aspatia disguised as a man, engages a nobleman in a duel and dies of her wounds. [Br. Drama: Beaumont and Fletcher The Maids Tragedy in Sobel, 444]
  4. Athena assumes Mentors form to persuade Telemachus to search for his father. [Gk. Lit.: Odyssey ]
  5. Babbie a young lady of good blood runs about in the dress and manners of a gypsy. [Br. Lit.: Barrie The Little Minister in Magill I, 513]
  6. Batman millionaire Bruce Wayne dresses in his batlike cape and cowl. [Comics: Horn, 101]
  7. Beaucaire, Monsieur to escape marriage, nobleman pretends to be a barber. [Am. Lit.: Monsieur Beaucaire ]
  8. Biron masks self as Muscovite; woos wrong woman. [Br. Lit.: Loves Labours Lost ]
  9. Blakeney, Percy outwits his opponents by his ingenious disguises. [Br. Lit.: Scarlet Pimpernel ]
  10. Bones, Brom impersonates Headless Horseman to scare off rival suitor. [Am. Lit.: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow ]
  11. Brainworm impersonates variety of characters in his trickery. [Br. Lit.: Every Man in His Humour ]
  12. Burchell, Mr. baronet passes himself off as beggar. [Br. Lit.: The Vicar of Wakefield ]
  13. Burlingame, Henry man with a thousand faces. [Am. Lit.: The Sot-Weed Factor ]
  14. Charleys Aunt man poses as a woman in order to get his pal out of a jam. [Br. Drama: Barnhart, 228]
  15. Cléonte masquerades as Grand Turk to win pretentious mans daughter. [Fr. Lit.: Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme ]
  16. Cupid disguised as Ascanius, son of Aeneas. [Gk. Myth.: Aeneid ]
  17. Demara, Ferdinand, Jr. , Great Impostor; posed in professional roles. [Am. Hist.: Wallechinsky, 484]
  18. Despina disguised doctor who supposedly restores lovers to life. [Ger. Opera: Mozart, Cosi fan tutte, Westerman, 98]
  19. Elaine disguises herself as Guinevere in order to seduce Lancelot. [Br. Lit.: Malory Le Mort dArthur ]
  20. Eugenia, St. dressed as male, becomes abbot of Egyptian monastery. [Christian Hagiog.: Attwater, 120]
  21. Finn, Huckleberry after his supposed death, he dons a girls dress and goes into town to gain information. [Am. Lit.: Mark Twain Huckleberry Finn ]
  22. Ford assumes pseudonym to uncover adulterer. [Br. Lit.: Merry Wives of Windsor ]
  23. Gareth queen requires him to disguise himself as a kitchen hand before he may seek knighthood. [Br. Poetry: Tennyson Idylls of the King ]
  24. Gustavus, King he and his lover Amelia are in disguises when he is killed by her husband. [Ital. Opera: Un Ballo in Maschera in Osborne Opera ]
  25. Hardcastle, Kate wins her suitor by pretending to be a barmaid. [Br. Drama: Goldsmith She Stoops to Conquer in Benét, 926]
  26. Hautdesert, Sir Bercilak de disguised as Green Knight, challenges Gawains valor. [Br. Lit.: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight ]
  27. Helena disguises herself as a pilgrim in order to follow her husband from France to Italy. [Br. Drama: Shakespeare Alls Well That Ends Well ]
  28. Holmes, Sherlock returns in disguise after his supposed death to surprise his enemies. [Br. Lit.: Doyle The Return of Sherlock Holmes in Sherlock Holmes ]
  29. Imogen dresses in boys clothes to escape her husbands murder plot. [Br. Drama: Shakespeare Cymbeline ]
  30. Jacob dressed as Esau to obtain fathers blessing. [O.T.: Genesis 27:1516]
  31. Joker, the master of disguise confounds Batman. [Comics: Batman in Horn, 101]
  32. Julia masks self as page. [Br. Lit.: Two Gentlemen of Verona ]
  33. Köpenick tailor disguised as a captain, takes over city. [Ger. Lit.: Captain from Köpenick, Espy, 173]
  34. Kenneth, Sir as Richards slave, saves king from assassination. [Br. Lit.: The Talisman ]
  35. Leonora dressed as a man, elopes with Alvaro and takes refuge in a hermits cave. [Ital. Opera: La Forza del Destino in Osborne Opera ]
  36. Leonora masks as Fidelio to save imprisoned husband. [Ger. Opera: Beethoven, Fidelio, Scholes, 352353]
  37. Leucippus youth disguised as girl to be near Daphne; killed upon discovery. [Gk. Myth.: Zimmerman, 150]
  38. Lone Ranger masked crime fighter hides true identity. [Radio: Buxton, 143144; Comics: Horn, 460; TV: Terrace, II, 3435]
  39. Maupin, Madelaine de dresses and acts like a man in order to go among men and see them as they really are. [Fr. Lit.: Mademoiselle de Maupin in Magill I, 542]
  40. Merry Wives of Windsor, The Mr. Ford disguises himself in order to thwart Falstaffs designs on Mrs. Ford. [Br. Drama: Shakespeare The Merry Wives of Windsor ]
  41. Nanki-Poo emperors son disguised as a minstrel. [Br. Opera: The Mikado, Magill I, 591592]
  42. Octavian to spare his mistress, dresses as a chambermaid; Baron Ochs flirts with her. [Ger. Opera: Strauss Der Rosenkavalier in Benét, 877]
  43. Odysseus changed by Athena into an old beggar to avoid his recognition by Penelopes suitors. [Gk. Lit.: Odyssey ]
  44. Paolo, Don political agitator dressed incognito as priest. [Ital. Lit.: Bread and Wine ]
  45. Paris disguised as priest of Venus to free Helen. [Fr. Operetta: Offenbach, La Belle Hélène, Westerman, 272273]
  46. Pierre, Maître a French merchant; in reality, King Louis XI. [Br. Lit.: Quentin Durward, Magill I, 795797]
  47. Portia heiress disguises herself as a lawyer and wins a case for her fiancés friend. [Br. Drama: Shakespeare The Merchant of Venice ]
  48. Rodolph, Grand Duke roams the streets in disguise, befriending the unfortunate. [Fr. Lit.: Sue The Mysteries of Paris in Magill I, 632]
  49. Rosalind disguises herself as a male. [Br. Lit.: As You Like It ]
  50. Saladin Saracen leader, in doctors garb, cures Richards illness. [Br. Lit.: The Talisman ]
  51. Serannes, Theodore de young man in reality Mademoiselle de Maupin. [Fr. Lit.: Mademoiselle de Maupin, Magill I, 542543]
  52. Siegfried disguised as Gunther, steals gold ring from Brunhild. [Ger. Opera: Wagner, Götterdämmerung, Westerman, 244]
  53. Spina, Pietro antifascist patriot disguises himself as a priest. [Ital. Lit.: Bread and Wine ]
  54. Superman superhero under guise of Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter. [Comics: Horn, 642]
  55. Thousandfurs kings daughter works anonymously, cloaked in manypelted coat. [Ger. Fairy Tale: Grimm, 245]
  56. Toad of Toad Hall passes as washerwoman to escape from jail. [Childrens Lit.: The Wind in the Willows ]
  57. Toinette disguises herself as a doctor and prescribes radical treatment for a hypochondriac. [Fr. Drama: Moliére Le Malade Imaginaire in Sobel, 445]
  58. Vicentio masquerades as Friar Lodowick. [Br. Lit.: Measure for Measure ]
  59. Viola masquerades as Cesario. [Br. Lit.: Twelfth Night ]
  60. Zeus disguises himself as: satyr to lie with Antiope, Amphitryon with Alcmena, Artemis with Callisto, shower of gold with Danaë, white bull with Europa, swan with Leda, flame of fire with Aegina, and cuckoo with Hera. [Gk. Myth.: Jobes, 1719; New Century, 1158; Zimmerman, 293]
  61. Zorro masked swordsman, defender of weak and oppressed. [Am. Lit.: comic strip (1919); Am. Cinema: Halliwell, 794; TV : Terrace, II, 461462]

Dishonesty (See DECEIT .)

disguise

views updated Jun 08 2018

dis·guise / disˈgīz/ • v. [tr.] give (someone or oneself) a different appearance in order to conceal one's identity: he disguised himself as a girl | Brian was disguised as a priest. ∎  make (something) unrecognizable by altering its appearance, sound, taste, or smell: does holding a handkerchief over the mouthpiece really disguise your voice? ∎  conceal the nature or existence of (a feeling or situation): he made no effort to disguise his contempt.• n. a means of altering one's appearance or concealing one's identity: his bizarre disguise drew stares from fellow shoppers. ∎  the state of having altered one's appearance in order to conceal one's identity: I told them you were a policewoman in disguise. ∎  the concealing of one's true intentions or feelings: rows of small children looked at her without disguise.DERIVATIVES: dis·guise·ment n. ( archaic ).

disguise

views updated May 14 2018

disguise alter the dress of, now only to conceal identity XIV; conceal by a counterfeit appearance XVI. — OF. desguisier (mod. déguiser), f. Rom. *dis- DE-, DIS- 2 + *guisa GUISE.
Hence as sb. XIV.