"small makeup case," 1919, from compact (adj.), based on its containing compacted face powder.
c. 1300, from Anglo-French and Old French visage "face, countenance; portrait," from vis "face, appearance," from Latin visus "a look, vision," from past participle stem of videre "to see" (from PIE root *weid- "to see"). Visagiste "makeup artist" is recorded from 1958, from French.
"elegant, fine, gay," Middle English smiker, from Old English smicere "neat, elegant, beautiful, fair, tasteful." Compare Old High German smehhar, Middle High German smieke, German Schminke "paint, makeup, rouge." Hence smicker (v.) "look amorously" at someone (1660s); smickering "an amorous inclination" (1690s).
late 14c., "consumed or scorched by fire," past-participle adjective from the original past participle of burn (v.), which was displaced after 16c, by burned. Burnt offering "animal burned whole upon an altar in Jewish ritual" is from late 14c., a biblical phrase (see Exodus xx.24, Mark xii.33). Burnt-cork (1800) was used as theatrical makeup in blackface acts. Burnt fox was an old slang name for a student during his second half-year in a German university.
"vessel belonging to a shipping line," 1838, from line (n.) on the notion of a succession of ships plying between ports along regular "lines," as distinguished from transient ships using those ports. (Line in this sense is attested by 1786 in reference to stagecoaches.) Earlier it meant "man of war, ship of the line" (1829).
The cosmetic sense is by 1904, originally of actor's makeup where it might be used to draw wrinkles, as well as outline the eyes or lips. The type of baseball hit (forcible and parallel to the ground) was so called from 1874 (line drive is attested from 1899).
late 13c. (in compounds), "that with which something is painted, a substance used in painting," from paint (v.) or from the derived noun in Old French. Of rouge, makeup, etc., from 1650s. Paint-brush "brush for applying paints" is attested from 1827. Paint-box "box with compartments for holding different paints" is by 1725.
It differs from a dye in that it is not designed to sink into the substance to which it is applied, but to form a superficial coating. The term pigment is sometimes restricted to the dry coloring material of which a paint is made. [Century Dictionary]
in reference to color, "intensity of distinctive hue, degree of departure of a color-sensation from that of white or gray," 1889, from Latinized form of Greek khrōma "surface of the body, skin, color of the skin," also used generically for "color" and, in plural, "ornaments, makeup, embellishments," a verbal noun from khroizein "to color, stain, to touch the surface of the body," khrosthenai "to take on a color or hue," from khros, khroia "surface of the body, skin."
Beekes considers this noun to be of uncertain origin. It sometimes is explained as being somehow from PIE *ghreu- "to rub, grind" (see grit (n.)).
also makeup, "manner in which something is put together," 1821, from the verbal phrase (see make (v.) + up (adv.)). To make up as "build, collect into one form by bringing together" is from late 14c., also "prepare." It is attested from late 15c. as "supply as an equivalent," from 1660s as "end a quarrel, reconcile, settle differences, become friends again," by 1825 as "to fabricate artfully" (a story, etc.).
In reference to an actor, "prepare for impersonating a role" (including dress and the painting of the face), by 1808. Hence the noun sense of "appearance of the face and dress" (1858) and the sense of "cosmetics," attested by 1886, originally of actors.
mid-14c., "rule, control," verbal noun from dress (v.). In some Middle English uses also short for addressing. In cookery, "sauce used in preparing a dish for the table," from c. 1500. Meaning "bandage applied to a wound or sore" is by 1713.
Dressing-gown "a loose and easy robe worn while applying makeup or doing the hair" is attested from 1777; dressing-room "room intended to be used for dressing" is from 1670s. Dressing-up "act or fact of attiring oneself with attention to style and fashion" is by 1852. Dressing-down (n.) "a reprimand" is by 1839, American English, originally "a thrashing," perhaps ironic or extended from some 19c. mechanical or commercial sense.
