To hide one's face

...Furthermore, since masked and face-faced actors appear on stage at the same time, they do not use their faces to act, and they do away with all footwear and walk with white tabi socks and shuffle, which are other notable features of Noh. I have already mentioned chanting in a separate article, so I will talk about gestures. For example, crying is expressed by holding back tears with the hands, a gesture called "shiori," or by lowering the face, a gesture called "omote wo huseru." Noh does not have any gestures that involve holding back tears by looking up to the sky or rubbing the eyes with a fist....

*Some of the terminology explanations that refer to "men wo huseru" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…さらに仮面役と直面役（ひためんやく）が同時に舞台に立つために，顔で演技をしないとか，いっさいの履物を排して白足袋摺り足の歩行で演技を統一することなども，能のいちじるしい特色といえよう。謡については別項で述べたので所作についていうと，たとえば泣く演技は，手で涙を抑える〈シオリ〉と称する所作で表現するか，顔をうつむける〈面（おもて）ヲ伏セル〉と称する所作で表現する。天を仰いで涙をこらえるとか，こぶしで目をこするとかいう演技は能にはまったく存在しない。…

※「面ヲ伏セル」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報