Dictionary

rictus en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈɹɪk.tʊs/
• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈɹɪk.təs/

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin rictus.

Meanings

1. A bird’s gaping mouth.
2. The throat of a calyx.
3. Any open-mouthed expression.
   • Sword and shield, bone and steel / Rictus grin / Deaf forever to the battle's din 1986, “Deaf Forever”, performed by Motörhead:
   • The apprentice watched his Master, pain twisting his features into a rictus. 2008, Sean Williams, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, page 81:
   • The absolute incarnation of evil, Adolf Hitler, lies at your feet in a pool of his own blood. His wrinkled, crimson-splattered visage still strains, a jagged-toothed rictus trying to cry out. Insane even in death. Your lips pinched in bitter victory, you kick his head off his remains and spit on his corpse. 1993, Wolfenstein 3D, scene: after defeating Hitler (episode 3), level/area: 9:
   • Amid a thick, bristling beard, a nose like an owl's beak and a mouth whose corners were drawn by a wild-beast-like rictus were just discernible. 1899, Victor Hugo, translated by Paul Maurice, The Memoirs of Victor Hugo:
   • Valves plugs pumps to erase/ rictus from my face. 1990, “Nothingface”, performed by Voivod:
   • A rictus of cruel malignity lit up greyly their old bony faces. 1916, James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man:
   • His face was a rictus of sheer delight.
   • It squinted at her through the hated light, its brow a rictus of pain and fear. 2001, Eoin Colfer, Artemis Fowl, page 56:

Forms

Deriveds

rictal

Translations (4)

fr rictus (Any open-mouthed expression) · de Grimasse (Any open-mouthed expression) · ro rictus (Any open-mouthed expression) · fi irvistys (Any open-mouthed expression)