VEIL • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Veil

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noun

Veil n. (Written also vail)

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." "She, as a veil down to the slender waist, Her unadornéd golden tresses wore."

A cover; a disguise; a mask; a pretense. "(I will) pluck the borrowed veil of modesty from the so seeming Mistress Page."

(Bot.)

(a)

The calyptra of mosses.

(b)

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

(Eccl.) A covering for a person or thing; as, a nun's veil; a paten veil; an altar veil.

(Zool.) 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.

verb

Veil v. t. (past & past part. veiled; pres. part. veiling) (Written also vail)

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."

Fig.: To invest; to cover; to hide; to conceal. "To keep your great pretenses veiled."

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Etymology of 'Veil'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Veil" Quotes from Famous Books

... Hopper, he induced his wife to take her into the family, as a domestic. As soon as she entered the house, she said, "I don't want to deceive you. I will tell you everything." And she told all the particulars of her history, without attempting to veil any of its deformity. She was very industrious, and remarkably tidy in her habits. She kept the kitchen extremely neat, and loved to decorate it with little ornaments, especially with flowers. Poor shattered soul! Who can tell into what blossom of poetry that little ...

— Isaac T. Hopper • L. Maria Child

... been sufficiently modest to cloak their designs under the veil of secrecy. These people advocated their pernicious doctrines openly in your leading cities, even within the consecrated walls ...

— A Report of the Debates and Proceedings in the Secret Sessions of the Conference Convention • Lucius Eugene Chittenden

... speak of, that I need not dwell on it; except to say that you will be spared many disappointments if you are content with the fact that such moments of sympathy have been, and do not look to have a permanent friendship on that basis. When people draw the veil aside for a minute they generally put it back closer than ever, and do not like to be ...

— Stray Thoughts for Girls • Lucy H. M. Soulsby

... at Rome. St. Peter has left us a successor, and his throne shall never be empty so long as the world lasts. Now and again the prophetic fire bursts forth in some holy man who has fasted and prayed until the veil betwixt the seen and the unseen has grown thin. Would to God there was more light of prophecy in the earth! Perchance in His grace and mercy He will outpour His Spirit once again upon the earth, and gather about his Holiness a band of men lighted ...

— The Secret Chamber at Chad • Evelyn Everett-Green

... towards the recognition of the equal rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness—it is these that make our modern civilization so much greater, so much higher, than any that has gone before. It is these that have set free the mental power which has rolled back the veil of ignorance which hid all but a small portion of the globe from men's knowledge; which has measured the orbits of the circling spheres and bids us see moving, pulsing life in a drop of water; ...

— English Prose - A Series of Related Essays for the Discussion and Practice • Frederick William Roe (edit. and select.)

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