Veil (vāl), 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.]
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 unadornéd 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.) A covering for a person or thing;
as, a nun's veil; a paten veil; an altar
veil.
5. (Zoöl.) 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.
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.]
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.