Words - skip - Brewer’s

Covering the Face

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No malefactor was allowed, in ancient Persia, to look upon a king. So, in Esther vii. 5, when Haman fell into disgrace, being seen on the queen’s divan, “they instantly cover Haman’s face,” that he might not look on the face of Ahasuerus.

⁂ In India a low caste man covers his mouth when speaking to one of high caste.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.