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veil
[ veyl ]
noun
- a piece of opaque or transparent material worn over the face for concealment, for protection from the elements, or to enhance the appearance.
- a piece of material worn so as to fall over the head and shoulders on each side of the face, forming a part of the headdress of a nun.
- the life of a nun, especially a cloistered life.
- something that covers, separates, screens, or conceals:
a veil of smoke; the veil of death.
- a mask, disguise, or pretense:
to find fault under a veil of humor.
- Botany, Anatomy, Zoology. a velum.
- Mycology. a membrane that covers the immature mushroom of many fungi and breaks apart as the mushroom expands, leaving distinctive remnants on the cap, stalk, or stalk base.
- Scot. and North England. a caul.
verb (used with object)
- to cover or conceal with or as with a veil:
She veiled her face in black. A heavy fog veiled the shoreline.
- to hide the real nature of; mask; disguise:
to veil one's intentions.
verb (used without object)
- to don or wear a veil:
In certain Islamic countries women must veil.
veil
1/ veɪl /
noun
- a piece of more or less transparent material, usually attached to a hat or headdress, used to conceal or protect a woman's face and head
- part of a nun's headdress falling round the face onto the shoulders
- something that covers, conceals, or separates; mask
a veil of reticence
- the veilthe life of a nun in a religious order and the obligations entailed by it
- take the veilto become a nun
- Also calledvelum botany a membranous structure, esp the thin layer of cells connecting the edge of a young mushroom cap with the stipe
- anatomy another word for caul
- See humeral veil
verb
- tr to cover, conceal, or separate with or as if with a veil
- intr to wear or put on a veil
Veil
2/ vaɪl /
noun
- VeilSimone (Annie)1927FFrenchPOLITICS: stateswoman Simone ( Annie ) (simɔn). born 1927, French stateswoman; president of the European Parliament (1979–82): a survivor of Nazi concentration camps
veil
/ vāl /
- A membranous covering or part, especially a membrane surrounding the young mushrooms of certain basidiomycete fungi. In some species the membrane (called a partial veil ) extends only from the stalk to the cap. As the cap expands, the veil breaks, leaving a ring called an annulus on the stalk and often scalelike pieces on the cap. These veil remnants are important for identifying species of mushrooms.
Derived Forms
- ˈveiler, noun
- ˈveil-ˌlike, adjective
- ˈveilless, adjective
Other Words From
- veilless adjective
- veillike adjective
Word History and Origins
Origin of veil1
Word History and Origins
Origin of veil1
Idioms and Phrases
- take the veil, to become a nun.
More idioms and phrases containing veil
see draw a veil over .Example Sentences
To them, the hair covering incident offered a troubling glimpse into Syria's potential future under HTS, expressing fears that conservative policies could eventually mandate the veil for all women.
Then their decayed remains began to turn up in the dense national forest that surrounds Placerville, dumped behind rocks or deep in ravines veiled by towering pines.
The veil, or head covering, that had been part of her church-going uniform, also became an essential element of her work.
But the ability to extract and read the genetic code from bones that are many thousands of years old has lifted a veil on our mysterious past.
The coming veil of darkness is announced with a jab of 2024 topicality.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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