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“You must ... countenance my mistress”
Wordplay
Act 4,
Scene 1
Lines 80-85

An explanation of “countenance” in Act 4, Scene 1 of myShakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew.

Curtis

Do you hear, ho? You must meet my master to     
countenance my mistress.    

Grumio

Why? She hath a face of her own.

Curtis

Who knows not that?

Grumio

Thou, it seems, that calls for company to     
countenance her.

When Curtis reminds the other servants to “countenance” (pay their respects to) Katherina, Grumio makes a joke by assuming Curtis used “countenance” in its other sense, to give a face to something — for example, to give a face to a name.