WordWeight : Weighing the Words

Pronunciation : Veil
Part of Speech : n.
Etymology : [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.]
Definition : 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?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.)

Defn: A covering for a person or thing; as, a nun's veil; a paten veil; an altar veil.

5. (Zo?l.)

Defn: 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.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

Pronunciation : Veil
Part of Speech : v.
Etymology : [Cf. OF. veler, F. voiler, L. velarc. See Veil, n.] [Written also vail.]
Definition : 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.

t. [imp. & p. p. Veiled; p. pr. & vb. n. Veiling.]
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913