baby face

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See also: babyface and baby-face

English

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Etymology

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American professional wrestler, actor, and presenter John Cena, who adopted the persona of a baby face (sense 3) during his professional wrestling career.

From baby + face.[1]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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baby face (plural baby faces)

  1. A face, often chubby, resembling that of a baby; a youthful face.
  2. (often derogatory) A person having such a face, especially a young man having a beardless appearance.
  3. (professional wrestling, slang) A headlining wrestler with a persona embodying heroic or virtuous traits and who is regarded as a "good guy", especially one who is handsome and well-conditioned.
    Synonyms: blue-eyes, face
    Antonym: heel
    • 1989, Bruce Lincoln, “The Dialectics of Symbolic Inversion”, in Discourse and the Construction of Society: Comparative Studies of Myth, Ritual, and Classification, Oxford, Oxfordshire, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, part III (Classification), page 158:
      [Jim] Freedman began his analysis by noting two important facts about professional wrestling: First, that heels triumph considerably more often than do babyfaces and, second, that they triumph by different means, relying on secret holds, sly managers, secret weapons, and illegal maneuvers, whereas babyfaces trust to their physical abilities and athletic training alone.
    • 2007, Gary Howard, “Linking the East and the North”, in The Rassler from Renfrew: The History of Northland Wrestling Enterprises (1946–1980) Promoter – Larry Kasaboski, Renfrew, Ont.: General Store Publishing House, →ISBN, page 41:
      And they [wrestling fans] identified with the local farmer Kasaboski, the French-Canadian boys from Montreal, the clean-cut American lads and the handsome, muscular baby faces. At the same time, they jeered the heels, the masked men, the arrogant, bearded Russians and Germans, and the treacherous Japanese. Promoters always played on stereotypes and post-war biases.
    • 2007 October, Dave Batista [i.e., Dave Bautista], with Jeremy Roberts, “Evolution”, in Batista Unleashed, New York, N.Y.: Pocket Books, →ISBN, page 127:
      A babyface’s success depends a great deal on the heels he’s facing. It’s all in how you make them look. A good heel will make your babyface look like Superman.

Alternative forms

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Translations

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References

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  1. ^ baby face, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, June 2011; baby face, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

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