Adjacent Words

Veil definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

VEIL, n. [L. velum.
1. A cover; a curtain; something to intercept the view and lude an object.
2. A cover; a disguise. [See Vail. The latter orthography gives the Latin pronunciation as well as the English, and is to be preferred.
VEIL, v.t.
1. To cover with a veil; to conceal.
2. To invest; to cover.
3. To hide. [See Vail.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a garment that covers the head and face [syn: head covering, veil]
2: a membranous covering attached to the immature fruiting body of certain mushrooms [syn: veil, velum]
3: the inner membrane of embryos in higher vertebrates (especially when covering the head at birth) [syn: caul, veil, embryonic membrane]
4: a vestment worn by a priest at High Mass in the Roman Catholic Church; a silk shawl [syn: humeral veil, veil] v
1: to obscure, or conceal with or as if with a veil; "women in Afghanistan veil their faces" [ant: unveil]
2: make undecipherable or imperceptible by obscuring or concealing; "a hidden message"; "a veiled threat" [syn: obscure, blot out, obliterate, veil, hide]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French veil, veille, from Latin vela, plural of velum sail, awning, curtain Date: 13th century 1. a. a length of cloth worn by women as a covering for the head and shoulders and often especially in Eastern countries for the face; specifically the outer covering of a nun's headdress b. a length of veiling or netting worn over the head or face or attached for protection or ornament to a hat or headdress <a bridal veil> c. any of various liturgical cloths; especially a cloth used to cover the chalice 2. the life of a nun — often used in the phrase take the veil 3. a concealing curtain or cover of cloth 4. something that resembles a veil <a veil of stars>; especially something that hides or obscures like a veil <lift the veil of secrecy> 5. a covering body part or membrane: as a. velum b. caul II. verb Date: 14th century transitive verb to cover, provide, obscure, or conceal with or as if with a veil intransitive verb to put on or wear a veil

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 a piece of usu. more or less transparent fabric attached to a woman's hat etc., esp. to conceal the face or protect against the sun, dust, etc. 2 a piece of linen etc. as part of a nun's head-dress, resting on the head and shoulders. 3 a curtain, esp. that separating the sanctuary in the Jewish Temple. 4 a disguise; a pretext; a thing that conceals (under the veil of friendship; a veil of mist). 5 Photog. slight fogging. 6 huskiness of the voice. 7 = VELUM. --v.tr. 1 cover with a veil. 2 (esp. as veiled adj.) partly conceal (veiled threats). Phrases and idioms: beyond the veil in the unknown state of life after death. draw a veil over avoid discussing or calling attention to. take the veil become a nun. Derivatives: veilless adj. Etymology: ME f. AF veil(e), OF voil(e) f. L vela pl. of VELUM

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Veil Veil (v[=a]l), n. [OE. veile, OF. veile, F. voile, L. velum a sail, covering, curtain, veil, probably fr. vehere to bear, carry, and thus originally, that which bears the ship on. See Vehicle, and cf. Reveal.] [Written also vail.] 1. Something hung up, or spread out, to intercept the view, and hide an object; a cover; a curtain; esp., a screen, usually of gauze, crape, or similar diaphnous material, to hide or protect the face. The veil of the temple was rent in twain. --Matt. xxvii. 51. She, as a veil down to the slender waist, Her unadorn['e]d golden tresses wore. --Milton. 2. A cover; disguise; a mask; a pretense. [I will] pluck the borrowed veil of modesty from the so seeming Mistress Page. --Shak. 3. (Bot.) (a) The calyptra of mosses. (b) A membrane connecting the margin of the pileus of a mushroom with the stalk; -- called also velum. 4. (Eccl.) A covering for a person or thing; as, a nun's veil; a paten veil; an altar veil. 5. (Zo["o]l.) Same as Velum, 3. To take the veil (Eccl.), to receive or be covered with, a veil, as a nun, in token of retirement from the world; to become a nun.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Veil Veil, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Veiled; p. pr. & vb. n. Veiling.] [Cf. OF. veler, F. voiler, L. velarc. See Veil, n.] [Written also vail.] 1. To throw a veil over; to cover with a veil. Her face was veiled; yet to my fancied sight, Love, sweetness, goodness, in her person shined. --Milton. 2. Fig.: To invest; to cover; to hide; to conceal. To keep your great pretenses veiled. --Shak.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Vail Vail, v. t. [Aphetic form of avale. See Avale, Vale.] [Written also vale, and veil.] 1. To let fail; to allow or cause to sink. [Obs.] Vail your regard Upon a wronged, I would fain have said, a maid! --Shak. 2. To lower, or take off, in token of inferiority, reverence, submission, or the like. France must vail her lofty-plumed crest! --Shak. Without vailing his bonnet or testifying any reverence for the alleged sanctity of the relic. --Sir. W. Scott.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Vail Vail, v. i. To yield or recede; to give place; to show respect by yielding, uncovering, or the like. [Written also vale, and veil.] [Obs.] Thy convenience must vail to thy neighbor's necessity. --South.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(veils) 1. A veil is a piece of thin soft cloth that women sometimes wear over their heads and which can also cover their face. She's got long fair hair but she's got a veil over it... N-COUNT 2. You can refer to something that hides or partly hides a situation or activity as a veil. The country is ridding itself of its disgraced prime minister in a veil of secrecy... The chilling facts behind this veil of silence were slow to emerge. N-COUNT: usu sing, N of n 3. You can refer to something that you can partly see through, for example a mist, as a veil. (LITERARY) The eruption has left a thin veil of dust in the upper atmosphere... = haze N-COUNT: oft N of n 4. If you draw a veil over something, you stop talking about it because it is too unpleasant to talk about. The clamour to draw a veil over the minister's extra-marital activities reeks of hypocrisy. PHRASE: V inflects, PHR n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. 1. Screen, shade, curtain, cover. 2. Cover, disguise, mask, visor, blind, cloak, screen. II. v. a. 1. Screen, cover with a veil, throw a veil over. 2. Cover, invest, envelop. 3. Cover, hide, mask, conceal, disguise, screen, cloak, shroud.

Moby Thesaurus

alibi, apology, apply to, awning, bamboo curtain, barrier of secrecy, beach umbrella, becloud, befog, blackout, blanket, blind, block, bosom, camouflage, canopy, censorship, classify, cloak, clothe, cloud, coat, color, coloring, conceal, cope, cover, cover story, cover up, cover-up, coverage, covering, covert, coverture, cowl, cowling, curtain, device, disguise, dissemble, distract attention from, drape, drapery, draw the curtains, eclipse, enclose, ensconce, enshroud, envelop, enwrap, excuse, facade, false front, feint, file and forget, film, front, gloss, gloss over, guise, handle, hanging, hide, hold out on, hood, housing, hush-up, in petto, invest, iron curtain, ironbound security, keep, keep back, keep between us, keep buttoned up, keep close, keep dark, keep from, keep in ignorance, keep mum, keep secret, keep snug, keep under cover, keep under wraps, lame excuse, lay on, lay over, light shield, locus standi, make no sign, mantilla, mantle, mask, muffle, never let on, not give away, not tell, oath of secrecy, obduce, obfuscate, obscure, occult, official secrecy, ostensible motive, overlay, overshadow, overspread, pall, parasol, play dumb, poor excuse, pretense, pretension, pretext, protestation, public motive, put on, put-off, refuge, repression, screen, scum, seal of secrecy, secrete, security, semblance, shade, shader, shadow, sham, shelter, shield, show, shroud, shutter, slur over, smoke screen, smothering, spread over, stalking-horse, stifling, stratagem, subterfuge, sunblind, sunshade, superimpose, superpose, suppression, trick, umbrella, varnish, veil of secrecy, veiler, veiling, vestment, whitewash, withhold, wrap, wraps, yashmak