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veil

noun
/veɪl/US

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 (“cloth, covering”). Displaced Middle English scleire, scleyre, sleyre, slyre (“veil”) (compare German Schleier). Doublet of velum and voile.

  1. derived from vēlum
  2. derived from veil
  3. inherited from veil

Definitions

  1. Something hung up or spread out to hide or protect the face, or hide an object from view

    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.

    • The veil of the temple was rent in twain.
    • She, as a veil down to the slender waist, / Her unadorned golden tresses wore.

  2. Anything that partially obscures a clear view.

    • 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

    A cover; disguise; a mask; a pretense.

    • [I will] pluck the borrowed veil of modesty from the so seeming Mistress Page.
    • Beckett complains that "in the forest of symbols" there is never quiet, and longs to break through the veil of language to silence.
  4. ›+ 9 more definitions

    1. A covering for a person or thing

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

      • a nun's veil
      • a paten veil
      • an altar veil

    2. The calyptra of mosses.

    3. velum (A circular membrane round the cap of a medusa).

    4. A thin layer of tissue which is attached to or covers a mushroom.

    5. A membrane connecting the margin of the pileus of a mushroom with the stalk

      A membrane connecting the margin of the pileus of a mushroom with the stalk; a velum.

      • The genus Amanita has both a volva and a veil; the spores are white, and the stem is easily separable from the cap.

    6. An obscuration of the clearness of the tones in pronunciation.

    7. That which separates the living and the spirit world.

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

    8. To dress in, or decorate with, a veil.

      • I'm under surface Towers veiled in silk I guess I'm not welcome In this house they built

    9. To conceal as with a veil.

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

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at veil. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01veil02diaphanous03translucent04diffusing05broken06violated07ignored08ignore09pretend

A definitional loop anchored at veil. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

9 hops · closes at veil

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA