veil definition

English veil definition

Etymology

From Middle English veil, veyl, from Anglo-Norman and Old Northern French veil (“sail, veil, shroud”) (Francien Old French voil, French voile), Latin vēlum (“sail”). Displaced Middle English scleire, scleyre, sleyre, slyre (“veil”) (compare German Schleier). Doublet of velum and voile.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /veɪl/

• Audio (GA)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪl
• Homophones: vale, vail

Noun

veil (plural veils)

1. Something hung up or spread out to hide or protect the face, or hide an object from view; usually of gauze, crepe, or similar diaphanous material.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Matthew 27:51:

     The veil of the temple was rent in twain.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554:

     She, as a veil down to the slender waist, / Her unadorned golden tresses wore.

2. (figuratively) Anything that partially obscures a clear view.
   • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, H.L. Brækstad, transl., Folk and Fairy Tales, page 160:

     Above the smoky veil over the town rose Akerhus fort, with its towers standing out in sharp relief against the mirror of the fjord, beyond where the Nœs point loomed as a black shadow.

3. A cover; disguise; a mask; a pretense.
   • c. 1597, William Shakespeare, “The Merry VViues of VVindsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene iii]:

     [I will] pluck the borrowed veil of modesty from the so seeming Mistress Page.

   • 2007. Zerzan, John. Silence. p. 4.

     Beckett complains that "in the forest of symbols" there is never quiet, and longs to break through the veil of language to silence.

4. A covering for a person or thing; as, a caul (especially over the head)

   a nun's veil

   a paten veil

   an altar veil

5. (biology) The calyptra of mosses.
6. (zoology) velum (A circular membrane round the cap of a medusa).
7. (mycology) A thin layer of tissue which is attached to or covers a mushroom.
8. (mycology) A membrane connecting the margin of the pileus of a mushroom with the stalk; a velum.
9. An obscuration of the clearness of the tones in pronunciation.
10. (figuratively, parapsychology) That which separates the living and the spirit world.
    • 1926, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Land of Mist‎^[1]:

      "I have heard most furious bigots talking through the veil." "So have I, for that matter," said Malone, "and in this very room."

Derived terms

• dance of the seven veils
• draw a veil over
• take the veil
• veil of tears

Descendants

• → Japanese: ベール (bēru)
• → Korean: 베일 (beil)

Translations

Verb

veil (third-person singular simple present veils, present participle veiling, simple past and past participle veiled)

1. (transitive) To dress in, or decorate with, a veil.
2. (transitive) To conceal as with a veil.

   The forest fire was veiled by smoke, but I could hear it clearly.

Translations

Anagrams

• Levi, Viel, evil, live, vile, vlei

Dutch veil definition

Etymology

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

veil

1. first-person singular present indicative of veilen
2. imperative of veilen

Adjective

veil (comparative veiler, superlative veilst)

1. venal

   Een veile vrouw.

   A venal woman.

Inflection

Anagrams

• viel, vlei