faced
“it with a card of ten,”
THE TAMING OF THE SHREW, ii. 1.
397.
“A common phrase, which we may suppose to have been derived
from some game (possibly primero), wherein the
standing boldly upon a ten was often
successful. A card of ten meant a tenth card, a
ten. . . . I conceive the force of the phrase to have expressed, originally, the
confidence or impudence of one who with a ten, as at brag, faced or outfaced one who had
really a faced card against him. To face meant,
as it still does, to bully, to attack by impudence of face.”
Nares's Gloss.
(Compare Skelton's Bowge of Courte:
“And soo outface hym with a carde of ten.”
Works, vol. i. p. 42, ed. Dyce. )
“And soo outface hym with a carde of ten.”
Works, vol. i. p. 42, ed. Dyce. )
