"give face" meaning in English

See give face in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: en-au-give face.ogg [Australia] Forms: gives face [present, singular, third-person], giving face [participle, present], gave face [past], given face [participle, past]
Etymology: First used in the late 19th century (most likely in the colonial Hong Kong), a calque of dialectal Cantonese 畀面 (bei2 min2). Etymology templates: {{clq|en|yue|畀面|notext=1|tr=bei2 min2}} Cantonese 畀面 (bei2 min2) Head templates: {{en-verb|give<,,gave,given> face}} give face (third-person singular simple present gives face, present participle giving face, simple past gave face, past participle given face)
  1. (idiomatic) To honor; to pay respect. Tags: idiomatic Related terms: save face
    Sense id: en-give_face-en-verb-1YDYaCwQ Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English entries with language name categories using raw markup, English light verb constructions, English predicates, English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 46 52 1 Disambiguation of English entries with language name categories using raw markup: 62 37 1 Disambiguation of English light verb constructions: 59 40 2 Disambiguation of English predicates: 55 32 13 Disambiguation of English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys: 46 52 2
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 1

Verb

Audio: en-au-give face.ogg [Australia] Forms: gives face [present, singular, third-person], giving face [participle, present], gave face [past], given face [participle, past]
Etymology: Compare give head. Head templates: {{en-verb|give<,,gave,given> face}} give face (third-person singular simple present gives face, present participle giving face, simple past gave face, past participle given face)
  1. (idiomatic, slang) To perform oral sex (on a female). Tags: idiomatic, slang
    Sense id: en-give_face-en-verb-Q183i6tL Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 46 52 1 Disambiguation of English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys: 46 52 2
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 2

Verb

Audio: en-au-give face.ogg [Australia] Forms: gives face [present, singular, third-person], giving face [participle, present], gave face [past], given face [participle, past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|give<,,gave,given> face}} give face (third-person singular simple present gives face, present participle giving face, simple past gave face, past participle given face)
  1. (with to) To confront.
    Sense id: en-give_face-en-verb-qO4HO03b
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 3

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for give face meaning in English (6.6kB)

{
  "etymology_number": 1,
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "yue",
        "3": "畀面",
        "notext": "1",
        "tr": "bei2 min2"
      },
      "expansion": "Cantonese 畀面 (bei2 min2)",
      "name": "clq"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "First used in the late 19th century (most likely in the colonial Hong Kong), a calque of dialectal Cantonese 畀面 (bei2 min2).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "gives face",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "giving face",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "gave face",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "given face",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "give<,,gave,given> face"
      },
      "expansion": "give face (third-person singular simple present gives face, present participle giving face, simple past gave face, past participle given face)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "46 52 1",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "62 37 1",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with language name categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
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          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "59 40 2",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English light verb constructions",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "55 32 13",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English predicates",
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          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "46 52 2",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2000, Ko-lin Chin, Chinatown Gangs: Extortion, Enterprise, and Ethnicity, page 200",
          "text": "We gave face to one another.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2001, Wenshan Jia, The remaking of the Chinese character and identity in the 21st Century, page 135",
          "text": "While she gave face to the director, his subordinates, and her colleagues, she had no face left to herself.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2003, Martin Krott, Kent Williamsson, China business ABC: the China market survival kit, page 51",
          "text": "As one example among many of good intent gone wrong, we can mention the western top manager who felt that he gave face to the Chinese side by suddenly showing up himself to negotiate instead of sending a lower ranked employee.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To honor; to pay respect."
      ],
      "id": "en-give_face-en-verb-1YDYaCwQ",
      "links": [
        [
          "honor",
          "honor"
        ],
        [
          "pay",
          "pay"
        ],
        [
          "respect",
          "respect"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To honor; to pay respect."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "save face"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
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      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/En-au-give_face.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "give face"
}

{
  "etymology_number": 2,
  "etymology_text": "Compare give head.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "gives face",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "giving face",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "gave face",
      "tags": [
        "past"
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    },
    {
      "form": "given face",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
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  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "give<,,gave,given> face"
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    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
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      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "46 52 1",
          "kind": "other",
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          "ref": "2011, J. Darroll Hall, The Lollipop Book, page 107",
          "text": "Boys gave face, girls gave head.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2001, Letters to Penthouse XIV, page 107",
          "text": "Frank had pushed her pants down to reveal her pink pussy and was giving her face. She was in ecstasy.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2004, Henry Joseph Rychlicki, Fragments of My Life: A Sex Fiction, page 121",
          "text": "I'd hold her ass while I was giving her face, licking and sucking while she tried to escape, anticipating her orgasm when all of the sudden she would burst sweet honey and come all over my face while the earth shook.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To perform oral sex (on a female)."
      ],
      "id": "en-give_face-en-verb-Q183i6tL",
      "links": [
        [
          "oral sex",
          "oral sex"
        ]
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, slang) To perform oral sex (on a female)."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "slang"
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    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
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      "audio": "en-au-give face.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/6c/En-au-give_face.ogg/En-au-give_face.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/En-au-give_face.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
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      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "give face"
}

{
  "etymology_number": 3,
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "gives face",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "giving face",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
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      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "gave face",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "given face",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
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    }
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  "head_templates": [
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        "1": "give<,,gave,given> face"
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    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1997, Scott Turow, The Laws of Our Fathers",
          "text": "He has been shot twice before, once when he was sixteen, that was some serious shit, sort of giving face to some dude, and the mother pulled out a.38 and boom, just like it was but a little more downtalk.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To confront."
      ],
      "id": "en-give_face-en-verb-qO4HO03b",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(with to) To confront."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "with to"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
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      "audio": "en-au-give face.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/6c/En-au-give_face.ogg/En-au-give_face.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/En-au-give_face.ogg",
      "tags": [
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    }
  ],
  "word": "give face"
}
{
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    "English lemmas",
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    "English terms calqued from Cantonese",
    "English terms derived from Cantonese",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
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  "etymology_number": 1,
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      "expansion": "Cantonese 畀面 (bei2 min2)",
      "name": "clq"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "First used in the late 19th century (most likely in the colonial Hong Kong), a calque of dialectal Cantonese 畀面 (bei2 min2).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "gives face",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "giving face",
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        "present"
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    {
      "form": "gave face",
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    {
      "form": "given face",
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  "head_templates": [
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        "1": "give<,,gave,given> face"
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    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "save face"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
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      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
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        {
          "ref": "2000, Ko-lin Chin, Chinatown Gangs: Extortion, Enterprise, and Ethnicity, page 200",
          "text": "We gave face to one another.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2001, Wenshan Jia, The remaking of the Chinese character and identity in the 21st Century, page 135",
          "text": "While she gave face to the director, his subordinates, and her colleagues, she had no face left to herself.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2003, Martin Krott, Kent Williamsson, China business ABC: the China market survival kit, page 51",
          "text": "As one example among many of good intent gone wrong, we can mention the western top manager who felt that he gave face to the Chinese side by suddenly showing up himself to negotiate instead of sending a lower ranked employee.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To honor; to pay respect."
      ],
      "links": [
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          "honor",
          "honor"
        ],
        [
          "pay",
          "pay"
        ],
        [
          "respect",
          "respect"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To honor; to pay respect."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
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      "tags": [
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  ],
  "word": "give face"
}

{
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    "English verbs"
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  "etymology_number": 2,
  "etymology_text": "Compare give head.",
  "forms": [
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      "form": "gives face",
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      "form": "gave face",
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      "form": "given face",
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  "lang_code": "en",
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  "senses": [
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      "categories": [
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          "ref": "2011, J. Darroll Hall, The Lollipop Book, page 107",
          "text": "Boys gave face, girls gave head.",
          "type": "quotation"
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        {
          "ref": "2001, Letters to Penthouse XIV, page 107",
          "text": "Frank had pushed her pants down to reveal her pink pussy and was giving her face. She was in ecstasy.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2004, Henry Joseph Rychlicki, Fragments of My Life: A Sex Fiction, page 121",
          "text": "I'd hold her ass while I was giving her face, licking and sucking while she tried to escape, anticipating her orgasm when all of the sudden she would burst sweet honey and come all over my face while the earth shook.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
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        "To perform oral sex (on a female)."
      ],
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          "oral sex",
          "oral sex"
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      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, slang) To perform oral sex (on a female)."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "slang"
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      "audio": "en-au-give face.ogg",
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      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/En-au-give_face.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
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  ],
  "word": "give face"
}

{
  "categories": [
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    "English lemmas",
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    "English predicates",
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    "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
    "English verbs"
  ],
  "etymology_number": 3,
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "gives face",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
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    },
    {
      "form": "giving face",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "gave face",
      "tags": [
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    {
      "form": "given face",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
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  "head_templates": [
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1997, Scott Turow, The Laws of Our Fathers",
          "text": "He has been shot twice before, once when he was sixteen, that was some serious shit, sort of giving face to some dude, and the mother pulled out a.38 and boom, just like it was but a little more downtalk.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To confront."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(with to) To confront."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "with to"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-give face.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/6c/En-au-give_face.ogg/En-au-give_face.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/En-au-give_face.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "give face"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-10 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (a644e18 and edd475d). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.