[1] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

vail \vail\ v=al, v. i.
   to yield or recede; to give place; to show respect by
   yielding, uncovering, or the like. written also vale, and
   veil. obs.
   1913 webster

         thy convenience must vail to thy neighbor's necessity.
                                                  --south.
   1913 webster
see also:
vale veil 

[2] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

vail \vail\, v. t. aphetic form of avale. see avale, vale.
   written also vale, and veil.
   1. to let fall; to allow or cause to sink. obs.
      1913 webster

            vail your regard
            upon a wronged, i would fain have said, a maid
                                                  --shak.
      1913 webster

   2. to lower, or take off, in token of inferiority, reverence,
      submission, or the like.
      1913 webster

            france must vail her lofty-plumed crest --shak.
      1913 webster

            without vailing his bonnet or testifying any
            reverence for the alleged sanctity of the relic.
                                                  --sir. w.
                                                  scott.
      1913 webster
see also:
avale vale vale veil 

[3] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

veil \veil\ v=al, 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.
   1913 webster
   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.
      1913 webster

            the veil of the temple was rent in twain. --matt.
                                                  xxvii. 51.
      1913 webster

            she, as a veil down to the slender waist,
            her unadorn'ed golden tresses wore. --milton.
      1913 webster

   2. a cover; a disguise; a mask; a pretense.
      1913 webster

            i will pluck the borrowed veil of modesty from the
            so seeming mistress page.             --shak.
      1913 webster

   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.
          1913 webster

   4. eccl. a covering for a person or thing; as, a nun's
      veil; a paten veil; an altar veil.
      1913 webster

   5. zool. same as velum, 3.
      1913 webster

   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.
      1913 webster
see also:
vehicle reveal vail velum velum to take the veil 

[4] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

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.
   1913 webster
   1. to throw a veil over; to cover with a veil.
      1913 webster

            her face was veiled; yet to my fancied sight,
            love, sweetness, goodness, in her person shined.
                                                  --milton.
      1913 webster

   2. fig.: to invest; to cover; to hide; to conceal.
      1913 webster

            to keep your great pretenses veiled.  --shak.
      1913 webster
see also:
veiled veiling veil vail 

[5] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

caul \caul\ kaddl, n. oe. calle, kelle, prob. fr. f. cale;
   cf. ir. calla a veil.
   1. a covering of network for the head, worn by women; also, a
      net. --spenser.
      1913 webster

   2. anat. the fold of membrane loaded with fat, which covers
      more or less of the intestines in mammals; the great
      omentum. see omentum.
      1913 webster

            the caul serves for the warming of the lower belly.
                                                  --ray.
      1913 webster

   3. a part of the amnion, one of the membranes enveloping the
      fetus, which sometimes is round the head of a child at its
      birth; -- called also a veil.
      1913 webster +pjc

            it is deemed lucky to be with a caul or membrane
            over the face. this caul is esteemed an infallible
            preservative against drowning . . . according to
            chrysostom, the midwives frequently sold it for
            magic uses.                           --grose.
      1913 webster

            i was born with a caul, which was advertised for
            sale, in the newspapers, at the low price of fifteen
            guineas.                              --dickens.
      1913 webster
see also:
omentum veil 

[6] : WordNet (r) 2.0

veil
     n 1: a garment that covers the head and face syn: head covering
     2: the inner embryonic membrane of higher vertebrates
        especially when covering the head at birth syn: caul,
         embryonic membrane
     3: a vestment worn by a priest at high mass in the roman
        catholic church; a silk shawl syn: humeral 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, hide
see also:
head covering caul embryonic membrane humeral veil unveil obscure 
blot out obliterate hide 

[7] : Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

160 moby thesaurus words for "veil":
   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

Veil >> V Words
Veil, definition of term: Veil
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