mascara [L19th] Acting and clowning are indirectly linked in mascara, from Italian maschera, which goes back to an Arabic word meaning ‘buffoon’. Most of the earliest English uses refer to theatrical make-up, though the first known, from 1886, suggests a more discreet use by gentlemen: ‘For darkening the eyebrows and moustaches without greasing them and making them prominent’. Through Italian maschera mascara is also linked to mask [M16th] and masquerade [L16th].