The Collaborative International Dictionary
Countenance \Coun"te*nance\ (koun"t[-e]*nans), n. [OE. contenance, countenaunce, demeanor, composure, F. contenance demeanor, fr. L. continentia continence, LL. also, demeanor, fr. L. continere to hold together, repress, contain. See Contain, and cf. Continence.]
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Appearance or expression of the face; look; aspect; mien.
So spake the Son, and into terror changed His countenance.
--Milton. -
The face; the features.
In countenance somewhat doth resemble you.
--Shak. -
Approving or encouraging aspect of face; hence, favor, good will, support; aid; encouragement.
Thou hast made him . . . glad with thy countenance.
--Ps. xxi. 6.This is the magistrate's peculiar province, to give countenance to piety and virtue, and to rebuke vice.
--Atterbury. -
Superficial appearance; show; pretense. [Obs.]
The election being done, he made countenance of great discontent thereat.
--Ascham.In countenance, in an assured condition or aspect; free from shame or dismay. ``It puts the learned in countenance, and gives them a place among the fashionable part of mankind.''
--Addison.Out of countenance, not bold or assured; confounded; abashed. ``Their best friends were out of countenance, because they found that the imputations . . . were well grounded.''
--Clarendon.To keep the countenance, to preserve a composed or natural look, undisturbed by passion or emotion.
--Swift.
Usage examples of "in countenance".
The same night that my lord was dead, the hour of his death, as his knights record, there came into my castle of Tintagil a man like my lord in speech and in countenance, and two knights with him in likeness of his two knights Prastias and Jordanus, and so I went unto bed with him as I ought to do with my lord, and the same night, as I shall answer unto God, this child was begotten upon me.
This little girl, it may be added, resembles her Parisian grandfather in countenance to an almost absurd degree.
I tell him he ought to be ashamed of himself, but you and John must keep us in countenance.