baby face

Noun

baby face (plural baby faces)

1. A face, often chubby, resembling that of a baby; a youthful face.
   • I now also saw that famous beauty, but in my opinion of a childish, simple, and baby face, Mademoiselle Querouaille [Louise de Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth], lately Maide of Honʳ to Madame, and now to be so to yᵉ Queen.1670 November 13 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for 4 November 1670]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], 2nd edition...
   • My Stomach ſvvells vvith ſecret Spight, / To ſee my fickle, faithleſs Knight, / […] / On a meer Girl his Thoughts to place, / VVith dimpl'd Cheeks and baby Face, / A Child! a Chit! that vvas not born, / VVhen I did Tovvn and Court adorn.1707, [Joseph Addison], Rosamond. An Opera. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, Act II, scene i, page 16
2. (derogatory, often) A person having such a face, especially a young man having a beardless appearance.
   • God alone knows what has happened to our Indian Princes. Why are there so many of them running after baby faces? Why have they become so recklessly careless of their name and reputation?2006, Lucy Moore, “Appendix. The Status of an Indian Princess. A Tale of Woe. (By One of Them.)”, in Maharanis: A Family Saga of Four Queens, New York, N.Y.: Penguin Books, →ISBN
   • ‘Cheers, baby face!’ she sang. ‘Cheers!’ I giggled. I had never, ever been called ‘baby face’ before.2014, Jonathan Harvey, The Girl Who Just Appeared, London: Pan Books, →ISBN, page 101
3. (broadly, 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.
   • [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...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...
   • 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...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...

   Synonyms:

   blue-eyes, face

   Antonyms:

   heel