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The Collaborative International Dictionary
to face the music

Face \Face\ (f[=a]s), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Faced; p. pr. & vb. n. Facing.]

  1. To meet in front; to oppose with firmness; to resist, or to meet for the purpose of stopping or opposing; to confront; to encounter; as, to face an enemy in the field of battle.

    I'll face This tempest, and deserve the name of king.
    --Dryden.

  2. To Confront impudently; to bully.

    I will neither be facednor braved.
    --Shak.

  3. To stand opposite to; to stand with the face or front toward; to front upon; as, the apartments of the general faced the park; some of the seats on the train faced backward.

    He gained also with his forces that part of Britain which faces Ireland.
    --Milton.

  4. To cover in front, for ornament, protection, etc.; to put a facing upon; as, a building faced with marble.

  5. To line near the edge, esp. with a different material; as, to face the front of a coat, or the bottom of a dress.

  6. To cover with better, or better appearing, material than the mass consists of, for purpose of deception, as the surface of a box of tea, a barrel of sugar, etc.

  7. (Mach.) To make the surface of (anything) flat or smooth; to dress the face of (a stone, a casting, etc.); esp., in turning, to shape or smooth the flat surface of, as distinguished from the cylindrical surface.

  8. To cause to turn or present a face or front, as in a particular direction.

    To face down, to put down by bold or impudent opposition. ``He faced men down.''
    --Prior.

    To face (a thing) out, to persist boldly or impudently in an assertion or in a line of conduct. ``That thinks with oaths to face the matter out.''
    --Shak.

    to face the music to admit error and accept reprimand or punishment as a consequence for having failed or having done something wrong; to willingly experience an unpleasant situation out of a sense of duty or obligation; as, as soon as he broke the window with the football, Billy knew he would have to face the music.

Usage examples of "to face the music".

Perhaps he would have gone back to face the music if he hadn't remembered that he'd once hired a man who'd campaigned for Henry Wallace, back in '48.

I measured it with outspread fingers, found it annoyingly large but put on a show of indifference, and before looking up to face the music, waited until all the boys from the car stop, the avenue, and the overpass had climbed over the fence, for they were too big to squeeze through the gap.

Time to face the music, Brenna told herself, and she turned around.

But she knew she had to face the music in order to stop a lynching.

He'd have to face the music, take the stain on his record, plead guilty to whatever they threw at him, and get out so he could find a way to notify the empire about Zevon.

She slammed the door shut and left me to face the music by myself.